ED/ PSYCH 

LIB. 

LB 

1169 

B91s 


BURK 

...A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN 
PROBLEM  IN  PUBLIC  KINDERGATENS 
OF  SANTA  BARBARA,  CALIFORNIA 
1898  - 1899 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


Teachers  College  Educational  Reprints,  No.  4 


A  Study  of  the  Kindergarten  Problem 

in  the  Public  Kindergartens  of  Santa  Barbara, 
California,  1898-1899 


BY 
FREDERIC  BURK,  PH.D. 

Principal,  State  Normal  School,  San  Francisco 
Formerly  Superintendent  of  City  Schools,  Santa  Barbara 

AND 

CAROLINE  FREAR  BURK,  A.M. 


SECOND  EDITION 

with  an  Introduction  by 

PATTY  S.  HILL 

Associate  Professor  of  Education  and  Director 

of  the  Department  of  Lower  Primary  Education, 

Teachers  College,  Columbia  University 


Published  by 

Ceadjerfi  College,  Columbia  Bmbersitp 

New  York  City 
1920 


V.   M.   Gilson 
1818  Chapala  Street 
Santa  Barbara,  Calif. 


Teachers  College  Educational  Reprints,  No,  4 

A  Study  of  the  Kindergarten  Problem 

in  the  Public  Kindergartens  of  Santa  Barbara, 
California,  1898-1899 


FREDERIC  BURK,  PH.D. 

Principal,  State  Normal  School,  San  Francisco 
Formerly  Superintendent  of  City  Schools,  Santa  Barbara 

AND 

CAROLINE  FREAR  BURK,  A.M. 


SECOND  EDITION 

with  an  Introduction  by 

PATTY  S.  HILL 

Associate  Professor  of  Education  and  Director 

of  the  Department  of  Lower  Primary  Education, 

Teachers  College,  Columbia  University 


Published  by 

£racf)ers  College,  Columbia  ftlmberetttp 

New  York  City 
1920 


First  Edition 

THE  WHITAKER  AND  RAY  COMPANY 
SAN  FRANCISCO 

1899 


£d./Psych. 
— \  JJbrary 

LB 
I 


TO 

G.  STANLEY  HALL,  PH.D.,  LL.D. 

President  of  Clark  University 

whose  researches  in  child  psychology  are  giving  to  the  intuitions 

of  Froebel  a  scientific  basis  and  a  selective  critique,  and 

whose  leadership  is  extending  throughout  education 

the  recognition  of  the  genetic  principle. 


1871771 


INTRODUCTION  TO  SECOND  EDITION 

Experiment  is  the  keynote  of  progress  yesterday,  to-day, 
and  forever,  but  its  full  meaning  and  value  are  coming  to  us 
to-day  as  never  before  in  the  history  of  the  world.  So  true 
is  this  that  we  are  in  danger  of  encouraging  all  sorts  and  con- 
ditions of  work — good,  bad,  and  indifferent— if  it  bears  the 
magic  label  "experimental." 

We  must  not  forget,  however,  that  while  the  experimental 
attitude  is  essentially  modern,  experiment  has  always  been 
lurking  in  the  background,  working  under  cover  or  behind 
the  scenes,  watching  for  an  opportunity  to  assert  itself,  in 
spite  of  the  persecution  with  which  it  has  always  been  con- 
fronted. While  we  know  that  all  progress  is  due  to  experi- 
ment, we  have  the  feeling  that  he  who  criticises  the  present 
is  somehow  a  particularly  unpleasant,  if  not  a  dangerous, 
member  of  society.  Custom  is  right,  not  only  to  the  primi- 
tive mind  of  savage  society,  but  to  a  goodly  proportion  of 
minds  in  modern  life. 

Nevertheless,  this  attitude  is  rapidly  on  the  decline,  es- 
pecially in  commerce,  industry,  and  medicine.  Every  great 
industry  or  hospital  to-day  supports  a  laboratory  manned  by 
experts  who  are  expected  to  devote  their  whole  time  to 
research  and  investigation.  In  other  words,  experiment  is 
coming  to  be  looked  upon  as  an  ideal,  rather  than  a  crime,  as 
in  the  past. 

Education  lags  alarmingly  behind  science,  industry,  and 
medicine  in  this  respect,  but  it  is  rapidly  progressing  in  a 
more  generous  attitude  toward  experiment,  so  much  so  that 
one  has  great  difficulty  in  protecting  an  educational  experi- 
ment to-day  from  premature  and  undue  publicity. 

In  the  past,  other  educators  gave  a  more  generous  hearing 
to  experimenters  than  the  kindergartner.  This  is  unfortu- 
nate, but  not  difficult  to  explain  in  the  light  of  our  philosophy 
and  our  isolation  in  education.  As  a  result,  few  have  ven- 


vi  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

tured  to  experiment  in  the  kindergarten  field,  and  still  fewer 
have  dared  to  offer  the  results  of  their  experiments  in  print. 
It  is  a  sad  commentary  on  the  attitude  of  the  kindergarten 
toward  experiment  that  the  very  limited  number  of  records 
put  into  this  form  are  almost  without  exception  out  of  print 
to-day,  and  have  been  since  the  first  editions  appeared. 

Later,  Dr.  Montessori  entered  the  kindergarten  field,  with 
experiments  which  demanded  publication  all  over  the  world, 
in  both  popular  and  scientific  form.  After  this  we  kindergart- 
ners  somewhat  shamefacedly  turned  back  to  study  the  rec- 
ords of  experiments  of  like  nature  made  a  decade  earlier  in 
this  country,  only  to  discover  that  valuable  as  many  of  these 
were  for  present-day  study,  they  had  languished  and  died 
for  want  of  appreciation  and  demand.  There  is  need  for  all 
these  records,  and  they  should  be  in  available  form  for  all 
who  are  experimenting  in  this  field,  so  that  we  may  know 
what  has  been  done,  what  facts  were  assured  and  verified,  and 
what  needs  to  be  done  in  the  future,  if  we  are  to  avoid  waste 
and  prevent  the  mistakes  of  the  past. 

As  far  back  as  1898-99, Dr.  Frederic  Burk  carried  out  one 
of  the  most  significant  and  scientific  experiments  ever  made 
in  the  kindergarten  field.  At  the  time,  the  record  of  it  met 
with  a  chilly  reception,  on  the  whole;  nay,  more,  it  was 
stamped  with  the  vehement  disapproval  of  the  greatest 
kindergarten  authorities  of  the  day,  and  pronounced  heretical 
and  dangerously  radical.  It  was  almost  a  forbidden  book  in 
some  circles,  so  that  one  felt  ashamed  to  acknowledge  the 
appreciation  called  forth  by  the  fact  that  many  of  its  returns 
tallied  with  one's  daily  experiences  with  little  children.  It 
deserved  universal  study  then,  as  now,  whether  one  accepts 
all  Dr.  Burk's  conclusions  and  theses  or  not.  Dr.  Burk  has 
been  besought  to  issue  a  new  edition,  but  neither  author  nor 
publisher  cares  to  float  another  edition,  after  their  experience 
with  the  first  one.  Dr.  Burk,  however,  has  generously  con- 
sented to  turn  the  study  of  his  experiment  over  to  the  writer 
for  students  and  teachers. 

Dr.  John  Dewey,  Miss  Anna  E.  Bryan,  and  one  of  her 
graduates,  Miss  Scates,  gave  the  results  of  their  experimental 
kindergarten  in  the  Experimental  School  Record,  in  1900. 


INTRODUCTION  TO  SECOND  EDITION  Vll 

Valuable  as  this  was,  it,  too,  is  out  of  print.  In  1905,  Dr. 
John  MacVannel,  then  director  of  Kindergarten  Education 
in  Teachers  College,  conducted  a  very  interesting  experiment 
in  the  Horace  Mann  Kindergarten.  At  about  the  same  time 
another  more  radical  experiment  was  being  tried  out  in  the 
Speyer  School,  under  the  head  of  "Experimental  Play 
Room."  This  was  in  charge  of  Miss  Luella  Palmer  and 
under  the  supervision  of  the  writer.  Careful  records  were 
kept  throughout,  and  the  returns  published  in  The  Kinder- 
garten Review  at  the  close  of  the  experiment. 

It  is  an  exceedingly  interesting  fact  that  all  of  these  pre- 
ceded the  announcement  of  Dr.  Montessori's  experiment  in 
Rome  some  five,  ten  and  fifteen  years,  yet  all  were  charac- 
terized by  the  same  freedom  and  liberty  which  she  had  given 
to  the  world  in  so  eloquent  a  voice  that  both  teachers  and 
laymen  have  had  to  "stop !  look !  and  listen !" 

Some  fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago  Dr.  Colin  Scott,  now 
director  of  the  Department  of  Education  at  Mount  Holyoke 
College,  supervised  some  very  telling  experiments  in  self- 
government  and  self -direction  with  children  of  second,  third, 
and  fourth  grades.  These  records  may  be  found  in  his  book, 
Social  Education,  and  deserve  the  careful  study  of  all  those 
who  are  eagerly  studying  the  problem  of  training  young  chil- 
dren for  the  serious  responsibility  of  liberty  offered  by  demo- 
cratic governments. 

Professor  Earl  Barnes  and  Miss  Sissons  (now  Mrs.  David 
Snedden)  united  in  conducting  some  experiments  with 
kindergarten  children  at  Leland  Stanford  University  many 
years  ago.  This  experiment  met  with  a  like  fate,  though 
some  phases  were  recorded  in  the  volume,  Studies  in  Educa- 
tion, edited  by  Mr.  Barnes.  This  is  not  an  exhaustive  list 
of  experiments  in  this  field.  Many  were  conducted  so 
quietly  and  unpretentiously  that  they  never  reached  the 
public,  and  there  were  many  others  of  which  the  writer  knows 
nothing. 

All  these  experiments  were  fifteen  or  twenty  years  ahead 
of  their  times,  but  they  are  coming  to  their  own  to-day.  It 
is  our  shame,  however,  that  we  would  not  receive  the  message 
of  liberty  until  it  reached  us  from  a  foreign  shore. 


Vlll  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

Some  remarkable  experiments  are  being  carried  forward 
to-day  by  Miss  Margaret  McMillan  in  London,  and  Pro- 
fessor Claparede  of  the  University  of  Geneva,  in  Switzerland. 
In  these  even  the  two  year  old  children  are  receiving  scien- 
tific attention  and  education. 

A  Study  of  the  Kindergarten  Problem  is  again  offered  to 
the  teachers  of  America,  not  as  a  pattern  for  repetition,  but 
to  prepare  the  way  for  better  experiments  and  records  in  the 
future,  to  be  made  by  those  who  are  ready  to  approach  the 
kindergarten  problem  of  to-day  from  the  experimental 
rather  than  the  traditional  point  of  view.  We  acknowledge 
our  indebtedness  to  Dr.  Burk  for  generously  turning  over 
the  pamphlet  for  publication  to-day. 

PATTY  S.  HILL 


July,  1920 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION 

This  study  is  a  report  upon  one  year's  work  in  a  kinder- 
garten system  in  which  we  have  felt  free  to  break  somewhat 
from  tradition.  It  is  in  no  sense  offered  as  a  finished  product, 
nor  are  its  suggestions  anything  more  than  tentative.  It  is 
confessedly  crude.  The  conditions  have  been  favorable,  but 
by  no  means  ideal.  We  have  sought  to  apply  to  the  kinder- 
garten, in  a  practical  way,  some  of  the  products  of  common 
sense  experience  and  some  of  the  suggestions  of  child  psy- 
chology. In  a  few  subjects  a  limited  bibliography  has  been 
inserted,  but  the  field  is  here  so  wide  that  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  attempt  completion.  Readers  who  are  interested 
are  earnestly  advised  to  consult,  in  the  .matter  of  child- 
study  literature,  the  Bibliography  of  Child-Study,  by  Mr. 
Louis  N.  Wilson,  Librarian  of  Clark  University,  1898.  The 
child-study  book  references  in  Will  S.  Monroe's  Bibliography 
of  Education  (International  Education  Series)  will  be  found 
also  valuable.  More  direct,  but  less  accessible,  are  the  topi- 
cal reference  syllabi  issued  by  Professor  Monroe  for  his 
classes  in  the  State  Normal  School  at  Westfield,  Mass. 

The  Santa  Barbara  kindergartens  are  a  part  of  the  public 
school  system  supported  by  a  district  tax.  They  now  fully 
accommodate  all  children  who  are  sent  to  them,  one  kinder- 
garten being  in  connection  with  each  grammar  school  build- 
ing of  the  city.  This  public  school  kindergarten  system  is  an 
outgrowth  of  a  benevolent  effort  inaugurated  by  a  number  of 
active  and  public-spirited  women  of  the  city  in  1887.  For 
nine  years  the  kindergartens  were  fostered  and  maintained 
by  private  contributions,  but  in  1896  the  school  department 
proposed  a  special  tax  for  their  support,  and  they  have  since 
been  maintained  by  this  means.  The  success  of  the  move- 
ment is  unquestioned.  In  many  other  communities,  similar 
in  conditions  to  Santa  Barbara,  the  kindergarten  is  struggling 
for  public  recognition  and  support,  and  the  history  of  a 
successful  establishment  in  our  community  may  be  of  assis- 
tance to  sister  attempts. 


X  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

A  second  purpose  in  this  publication  lies  in  the  pedagogical 
phase  of  the  kindergarten  problem.  The  kindergarten  is  hav- 
ing great  difficulty  in  commending  itself  with  sufficient  force 
to  the  public  mind  to  secure  its  incorporation  into  the  public 
school  system.  We  all  believe  in  the  necessity  for  public  edu- 
cation of  children  from  four  to  six  years ;  nevertheless  we  find 
it  a  difficult  undertaking  to  assure  the  public  mind  that  the 
kindergarten  is  not  a  frivolous  nursery  room  based  upon  a 
cheery  sentimentalism  and  framed  in  notions  which  no  one 
can  understand.  On  the  other  hand,  the  school  people,  while 
they  openly  pat  the  kindergarten  upon  the  back  patron- 
izingly, as  they  would  a  fretful  child,  are  not  active  in  sup- 
plying real  help  to  the  cause.  The  kindergarten  has  not  yet 
been  able  to  make  the  school  look  upon  it  seriously.  First 
grade  teachers  confide  to  their  superintendents  that  they 
would  prefer  children  who  have  not  attended  the  kindergar- 
ten to  those  who  have.  They  fail  to  fin4  any  product  in  the 
kindergarten  training  of  which  the  school  can  make  use,  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  they  whisper  that  the  kindergarten  children 
are  unruly,  lack  a  spirit  of  obedience,  are  dependent,  and  con- 
tinually expect  to  be  amused.  It  may  be,  of  course,  that  the 
primary  school  teacher  does  not  know  a  good  thing  when  she 
sees  it,  but  the  upshot  of  the  matter  is  that  the  kinder- 
garten is  having  a  hard  time  of  it  in  establishing  its  place  in 
the  educational  system.  The  least  we  can  say  is  that  the 
school  and  the  kindergarten  are  out  of  joint.  The  kinder- 
gartens have  in  later  years  been  establishing  connecting 
classes.  But  this  seems  an  absurd  makeshift,  for  there  can, 
in  reality,  be  no  chasmic  break  in  the  child's  life.  There  is  a 
steady  process  of  development.  If  the  instincts  of  the  kinder- 
garten age  are  cultivated  properly  the  work  must  show  evi- 
dent results  for  the  school.  That  stands  to  reason.  Of 
course  we  must  dismiss  at  the  outset  any  notion  that  the 
kindergarten  should  do  the  work  of  the  schools.  No  one 
wants  that.  The  first  grade  teacher  does  not  ask  for  children 
who  can  write  and  read,  but  she  has  a  right  to  demand,  as 
results  of  kindergarten  work,  the  development  of  the  instincts 
which  are  nascent  during  the  kindergarten  period.  My  per- 
sonal conviction,  after  considerable  practical  study  of  child- 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION  XI 

ren  who  come  from  the  kindergarten,  is  that  the  fundamental 
weakness  of  the  prevailing  kindergarten  consists  in  its  gross 
neglect  of  instincts  which  properly  belong  to  its  period,  and 
attempts  prematurely  to  develop  instincts  which  do  not 
bud  until  the  adolescent  period.  As  a  consequence  there  are 
few  results  of  value  to  the  school,  for  much  of  that  which  has 
been  done  should  have  been  left  undone,  and  much  of  that 
which  has  been  left  undone  should  have  been  done. 

I  believe  that  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  modern  child-study 
movement  to  remedy  this  disjointed  condition.  The  investi- 
gations in  child  psychology,  up  to  the  present  time,  bear  upon 
the  period  of  infancy  and  that  covered  by  the  kindergarten 
more  directly,  perhaps,  than  upon  any  other  period  of  devel- 
opment of  the  individual.  Some  of  the  sister  sciences — biol- 
ogy, neurology,  physiology,  embryology,  and  anthropology — 
have  also  made  important  suggestions  in  the  matter  of  educa- 
tion during  this  period.  While  it  would  unquestionably  be 
a  course  of  foolhardiness  to  apply  the  hints  and  raw  sugges- 
tions of  these  modern  sciences  directly  to  practical  education 
upon  any  large  scale,  on  the  other  hand,  a  number  of  these 
same  materials  and  methods  of  instruction  have  also  been  put 
forth  from  the  fields  of  practical  experience.  While  it  is  true 
that  that  wing  of  the  kindergarten  system  which  has  sought 
to  gain  information  regarding  children  solely  by  a  close  letter 
study  of  Froebellian  philosophy,  has  been  slow  to  inform  it- 
self in  the  products  of  the  modern  sciences  or  to  assist  in  the 
simpler  lines  of  research,  nevertheless,  there  are  scattered 
here  and  there  in  the  kindergarten  a  hopeful  and  growing 
number  of  students,  who,  admitting  that  kindergarten  work 
should  yield  results  which  need  no  esoteric  training  to  recog- 
nize, have  not  hesitated  to  go  beyond  the  magic  kindergarten 
circle  in  search  of  them.  In  many  instances  these  results  of 
experience  in  training  children  from  four  to  six  years  fall 
into  line  with  what  child-study  investigations  have  foretold. 
I  believe  that  there  is  already  enough  of  these  tried  methods 
and  materials  from  which  to  form  the  substantial  basis  of  a 
curriculum  for  children  from  four  to  six  years.  Nothing  need 
be  included  which  is  not  now  in  successful  practice  in  some 
kindergarten,  here  or  there,  and,  while  I  am  aware  that  some 


Xll  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

of  these  practices  may  seem  treasonable  to  sacred  traditions, 
I  am  not  aware  that  they  are  beyond  the  pale  of  the  broad 
intuitions  of  Father  Froebel,  and  I  share  the  general  educa- 
tional conviction  that  as  the  framer  of  the  main  pillars  of 
an  educational  system  no  one  has  been  greater  than  he. 
As  a  practical  carpenter  and  a  fresco  painter,  it  may  be,  how- 
ever, there  is  room  for  question  upon  his  absolute  infallibility, 
for,  after  all  is  said,  it  must  be  admitted  that  he  was  really 
mortal,  that  he  lived  at  a  specific  period  in  educational  his- 
tory, that  he  was  affected  by  his  own  environment  of  philoso- 
phy and  science,  and  that  this  environment,  this  philosophy, 
and  the  horizon  of  science  have  since  his  time  radically 
changed. 

During  the  half  century  or  more  since  Froebel  lived,  an 
avalanche  of  new  facts  regarding  man,  his  origin  and  process 
of  development,  has  been  precipitated  upon  education,  ma- 
terially changing  our  conceptions  of  the  child  and  education, 
and  practically  wiping  out  the  phraseology  of  that  cheery 
pantheistic  philosophy  by  which  he  expressed  himself.  Old 
principles  must  be  restated  from  newer  standpoints,  and 
from  more  exact  data  of  science  and  experience,  and  in  a 
newer  philosophic  setting.  If  this  were  done,  perhaps  the 
orthodox  and  the  unorthodox  would  not  find  it  so  difficult 
to  shake  hands.  Nor  can  it  be  regarded  as  presumptuous  or 
treasonable  on  the  part  of  the  latter  end  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  after  fifty  years  of  research,  to  say  that  it  knows 
more  and  more  accurately  the  facts  of  these  instincts  than 
Froebel  knew;  nor  even  to  say  that  Froebel  erred  in  placing 
the  development  of  some  of  the  moral,  aesthetic,  and  mathe- 
matical instincts  too  early  in  child  life.  Further,  it  is  not  an 
improbable  possibility  that  later  experience  should  show  that, 
in  the  invention  of  or  selection  of  methods  and  material  to 
develop  a  principle,  Froebel  did  not  always  choose  the  very 
best. 

FREDERIC  BURK 


CONTENTS  * 

OUTLINE  OF  PAST  YEAR'S  WORK Orpha  M.  Quayle        i 

NEUROLOGICAL  CONDITIONS  OF  CHILDHOOD 

Frederic  Burk         9 
PHYSICAL  CULTURE — Introduction,  and  references  to 

literature Frederic  Burk       16 

Practical  applications Orpha  M.  Quayle       21 

PLAY — A  Study  of  Kindergarten  Children 

Caroline  Frear  Burk       26 
LANGUAGE — Introduction,  and  references 

Frederic  Burk       40 

Practical  applications Gail  Harrison, 

Gertrude  M.Diehl  and  May  W.  Reese       45 

CLAY  MODELING Gail  Harrison       58 

Music — Introduction,  with  references.  .Frederic  Burk       61 

Method  of  Instruction Juliet  Powell  Rice       62 

CHILDREN'S  SPONTANEOUS  CHOICE  AND  USE  OF  KIN- 
DERGARTEN MATERIALS Caroline  Frear  Burk       63 

THE  LOVE  OF  NATURE Alice  L.  Blackford, 

Annette  Underwood,  Fannie  S.  Reed  and 

Evaline  Rose  Sexton       84 

COUNTING  AND  NUMBER Evaline  Rose  Sexton        91 

MORAL  EDUCATION,  with  references  .  .  .  Frederic  Burk      95 

*  In  the  Second  Edition  two  chapters  of  local  interest  only  are  omitted. 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN 
PROBLEM 

OUTLINE  OF  THE  PAST  YEAR'S  WORK 

The  Santa  Barbara  Public  Kindergartens  were  opened 
August  29,  1898,  with  an  attendance  of  150  children  in  the 
four  kindergartens,  and  with  eight  teachers.  The  increase 
in  attendance  makes  the  present  enrollment  194,  while  the 
actual  number  in  attendance  during  the  year  is  290. 

In  organizing  the  plan  of  work,  it  was  decided  that  the 
most  advantageous  use  of  the  afternoons  would  be  in  follow- 
ing a  course  in  child  study,  meeting  together  for  conference 
and  exchange  of  thought,  visiting  the  sick,  attending  parents' 
meetings,  visiting  parents  for  information  regarding  the 
children,  and  distributing  necessary  clothing. 

THE  KINDERGARTEN  SEMINARY:  The  conviction  that  the 
existing  methods  might  be  advantageously  modified,  and  the 
trend  and  scope  of  those  methods  so  directed  as  to  be  kept 
within  the  channels  of  a  practical  preparation  for  school  life, 
led  Superintendent  Burk  to  form  a  Public  School  Kindergar- 
ten Seminary,  for  the  purpose  of  study  and  investigation  of 
subjects  having  a  direct  bearing  upon  the  welfare  of  kinder- 
garten children.  These  meetings  were  held  once  a  week  in 
the  afternoon,  when  reviews  of  articles  and  books  by  well 
known  educators,  scientists  and  students  of  child  life  were 
read  by  members.  By  this  method  the  following  subjects 
were  carefully  reviewed  and  discussed :  Barnes — Punishment 
as  Seen  by  Children;  Brown — Notes  on  Children's  Draw- 
ings; Buckman — Babies  and  Monkeys;  Hall  and  Ellis — 
A  Study  of  Dolls;  Darwin — Instinct  and  Play  in  Descent 
of  Man;  Karl  Groos — The  Play  of  Animals;  Hall — Chil- 
dren's Lies;  Johnson — Education  by  Plays  and  Games; 
Lloyd  Morgan — Habit  and  Instinct;  Morgan — Animal  Life 
and  Intelligence;  Morrison — Juvenile  Offenders;  Mum- 
ford — Survival  Movements  of  Human  Infancy;  Robinson — 
The  Primitive  Child ;  Schallenberger — A  Study  of  Children's 
Rights;  Herbert  Spencer — Instinct;  Susan  E.  Blow — Sym- 
bolic Education;  chapter  on  Meaning  of  Play;  Taylor — 


2  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

Primitive  Culture;  James  Sully — The  Imaginative  Side  of 
Play;  Gulick — Some  Psychical  Aspects  of  Muscular  Exer- 
cise; Sully: — Studies  in  Childhood. 

These  meetings  were  well  attended,  several  members  from 
outside  having  joined,  making  the  membership  eighteen. 
The  interest  was  so  earnest  and  well  sustained  that  the 
teachers  of  the  other  departments  urged  the  superintendent 
to  give  them  an  opportunity  for  similar  work,  and  the  semi- 
nary suffered  the  pangs  of  dissolution  only  to  find  re-birth 
in  the  Education  Club,  which  comprises  nearly  all  of  the 
public  school  teachers  of  Santa  Barbara,  who  hear  each  week 
lectures  on  neurology,  psychology  and  kindred  subjects  of 
interest  and  value  to  teachers. 

SUPERVISOR'S  MEETINGS:  Once  a  week  the  kindergartners 
have  met  their  supervisor  for  discussion  of  the  week's  work 
and  observations,  considerations  of  first  grade  criticisms  and 
requirements  for  a  practical  preparation  of  the  children  for 
school  life,  and  use  of  kindergarten  material  to  that  end,  with 
the  view  of  reaching  uniformity  in  the  results  of  their  work. 
The  discussions  of  methods  for  developing  the  counting,  num- 
ber, drawing,  and  story  interests,  the  effects  of  choice  of  ma- 
terial and  freedom  of  expression  have  been  of  interest  and 
profit  to  the  kindergartners. 

They  have  also  devoted  much  time  to  visiting  the  absent 
and  sick,  coming  into  touch  with  the  parents  in  this  way,  and 
through  the  kindness  and  cooperation  of  Father  Stockman 
have  distributed  donated  clothing  where  necessary. 

During  the  first  few  months  the  regular  kindergarten  work 
was  carried  on,  but  as  the  studies  in  the  seminary  progressed, 
the  necessity  for  modifications  in  the  method  of  the  kinder- 
garten became  evident.  There  is  a  knocking  at  the  kinder- 
garten's peaceful  and  prosperous  door,  a  sound  of  many 
voices  demanding  to  be  heard — voices  from  little  children, 
parents,  teachers,  physicians,  psychologists,  neurologists, 
students  of  child  nature — beseeching,  suggesting,  urging, 
convincing,  threatening,  commanding  us  to  throw  down  the 
barriers  of  self-complacency  behind  which  we  have  so  secure- 
ly entrenched  ourselves,  and  to  listen  to  the  voices  of  modern 
investigation  and  practical  experience.  Some  intelligent 


OUTLINE  OF  PAST  YEAR  S  WORK  3 

kindergartners  have  already  thrown  down  many  traditional 
implements  of  their  craft,  and  as  they  rise  to  open  wide  the 
door  to  modern  research  and  progress,  see  the  intricate 
weaving  mat  and  the  diminutive  folding  paper  vanish  with 
only  a  parting  sigh  of  regret — regret  for  the  choice  and  logical 
sequences  so  painstakingly  labored  over,  so  conscientiously 
administered;  for  the  elaborate  story,  with  its  adult  moral 
faithfully  ingrafted  upon  the  child's  dawning  spiritual  life; 
for  the  carefully  prepared  dictation  with  gift  or  occupation, 
which  has  so  sweetly  and  craftily  sought  to  convey  adult 
scientific  instruction  to  the  unconscious  little  one;  for  the 
aesthetic  games  which  they  have  performed  with  grace  and 
conscientious  adherence  to  traditional  modes  of  exhibition. 

The  thoughtful  kindergartner  bids  the  new  tendencies  wel- 
come— the  little  child,  with  his  untrammeled  and  naive  rev- 
elation of  himself  in  play,  his  interests,  his  longings,  his  neces- 
sities ;  the  mother,  with  her  divine  intuitions,  her  knowledge 
of  his  pre-natal  and  home  influences;  the  primary  teacher, 
with  her  practical  suggestions  for  preparation  for  school  life, 
so  soon  to  be  entered  upon;  the  physician,  with  the  solemn 
words  of  warning  concerning  injured  eyesight,  nervous  com- 
plaints, precocious  brain  development ;  the  neurologist,  with 
the  revelations  of  modern  investigation  regarding  the  extreme 
delicacy  of  the  nervous  system,  the  importance  of  developing 
the  fundamental  activities  fully,  at  the  period  of  their  nascen- 
cies, and  the  danger  of  forcing  prematurely  the  fragile  nerve 
fibres;  the  psychologist,  with  the  demand  that  play,  in  its 
broadest  sense,  with  every  incentive  for  its  free  expression, 
is  the  child's  rightful  inheritance,  his  only  duty  toward  him- 
self and  humanity,  the  only  safe,  sure  foundation  for  a  life 
of  usefulness  to  himself  and  others. 

After  ten  years  of  close  observation  of  kindergarten  chil- 
dren, during  which  time  I  have  committed  many  an  educa- 
tional sin  in  mistaken  enthusiasm,  and  in  watching  the  effects 
produced  upon  the  children  by  my  misguided  and  unholy 
zeal,  I  am  convinced  that  the  modern  kindergarten  has  out- 
grown many  of  the  encrusted  interpretations  of  Froebel's 
thought,  that  it  has  ventured  in  many  lines  upon  the  field 
belonging  to  adolescence;  that  it  has  encroached  upon  the 


4  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

child's  rights  by  attempting  to  show  him  a  better  way  to 
play  than  Nature  teaches  him;  that  it  has  put  the  moral 
development  of  adolescence  upon  his  puny  shoulders;  that 
it  is  more  and  more  intruding  upon  the  domain  of  the  school 
in  using  the  original  playthings  devised  by  Froebel,  as  a 
medium  through  which  to  smuggle  sugar-coated  instruction, 
ignorantly  or  willfully  mistaking  childish  curiosity  for  the 
spirit  of  scientific  investigation.  Doubtless  this  curiosity 
judiciously  fostered  and  gratified  may  lead  to  a  desire  for 
scientific  research  in  adolescence,  yet  in  the  kindergarten  the 
spirit  of  scientific  investigation,  as  such,  is  in  its  embryo- 
logical  sleep. 

That  children  have  gone  home  from  the  kindergarten  with 
flushed  faces,  tired  eyes,  poor  appetites  and  irritated  nerves 
has  been  frequently  reported  to  me  by  mothers,  and  upon 
urging  a  candid  expression  of  opinion  from  them,  some  have 
ventured  to  say  that  possibly  we  are  trying  to  teach  the 
children  too  much  at  once. 

We  conscientiously  spend  the  entire  afternoon  in  making 
elaborate  preparations  for  more  flushed  faces,  tired  eyes, 
poor  appetites  and  irritated  nerves  upon  the  morrow.  We 
want  Johnny  to  learn  songs  appropriate  to  the  season  and  the 
weather,  the  aesthetic  significance  of  which  is  so  obvious  and 
would  be  so  valuable  if  he  only  understood  the  words.  How- 
ever, Johnny  is  equal  to  the  occasion  and  frequently  impro- 
vises words  which  have  a  more  direct  meaning  to  him  than 
those  offered  up  to  the  shrine  of  his  spiritual  nature.  We 
expect  him  to  remember  what  we  tell  him  in  a  morally  or 
scientifically  instructive  story;  he  must  learn  the  words, 
music  and  movements  of  the  so-called  games ;  he  must  sit  in 
quiet  and  decorous  attention  while  he  follows  to  the  letter 
dictations  with  the  gifts  which  would  often  tax  the  ingenuity 
of  an  adult,  who  often  expresses  amazement  at  Johnny's 
ability,  as  well  may  he;  Johnny  must  show  no  enthusiasm 
over  a  chance  or  surreptitious  discovery,  made  by  himself, 
must  place  his  material  in  accurate  accordance  with  the 
dictations,  and  then  like  a  good  boy  replace  his  gift  into  the 
little  box  to  the  tune  of  one,  two,  three.  Will  not  the  con- 
scientious kindergartner  recall  with  me  many  a  childish 


OUTLINE  OF  PAST  YEAR  S  WORK  5 

sigh  of  relief  as  the  eight  tiny  cubes  are  finally  deposited  in 
the  proper  box,  with  appropriate  ceremony,  and  see  again 
the  stretching  arms  and  legs,  aching  for  a  run  and  a  prance, 
after  a  period  of  from  twenty  to  thirty  minutes  of  this  en- 
forced quiet?  After  all  this  painstaking  devotion  to  Johnny's 
temporal  and  spiritual  welfare,  why  does  he  not  go  home 
refreshed  and  healthily  hungry,  eager  to  come  again  to  drink 
of  this  fountain?  Because  he  has  had  too  much,  because  his 
mind  is  confused  and  his  nerves  unstrung  by  the  numerous 
and  varied  demands  made  upon  him. 

The  results  of  the  discussion  and  studies  made  by  the  Sem- 
inary led  to  the  adoption  of  the  following  curriculum  early  in 
January: 

I.   Prayer,  Singing,  Movement  Songs,  Stories,  Mother 

Goose  Stories,  Aesop's  Fables,  Anderson  or  Grimm. 

II.    Blackboard  Illustration  of  Story.  Children  tell  story. 

III.  Recess.    Free  Play.    Balls,  Incentive  for  Individual 

Plays — dolls,  reins,  toys,  bubbles,  the  sand  pile,  etc. 

IV.  Number — Counting  or  groups  with  objects.    Beads  or 

other  suitable  kindergarten  material. 
V.   Use  of  objects,  pictures  and  picture  books   as  lan- 
guage incentives. 

VI.   Recess.    Free  play  with  incentives. 
VII.   Free  use  of  clay,  sand  table,  paper  cutting  or  other 

kindergarten  material  without  dictations. 
This  curriculum  has  been  in  use  since  January,  and  while 
at  first  there  was  some  difficulty  in  smooth  adjustment,  in  a 
month  the  beneficial  results  became  manifest,  the  equilibrium 
between  freedom  of  choice  and  spontaneity  of  expression,  and 
proper  obedience  and  discipline  became  apparent,  and  the 
beneficial  effects  of  free  play  in  the  open  air  were  satisfactory 
evidence  of  the  usefulness  of  this  very  practical  curriculum. 
I  call  it  practical,  because  it  was  arranged  to  meet  the  require- 
ments of  the  primary  school,  leaving  undone  those  things  for 
which  the  primary  teacher  had  no  time  or  material.  The  state- 
ment of  one  primary  teacher,  after  a  trial  of  children  who  had 
been  three  months  under  this  training,  has  a  significance  of 
peculiar  meaning  when  she  says:  "The  children  are  more 
obedient,  more  self-reliant,  more  prompt  to  comprehend  my 


6  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

requests  than  any  children  who  have  ever  come  to  me  from 
any  kindergarten." 

PARENTS'  MEETINGS:  For  the  mutual  benefit  of.  parents 
and  kindergartners,  parents'  meetings  were  organized  shortly 
after  the  opening  of  the  kindergartens,  and  held  in  each  ward 
once  a  month.  The  invitations  and  printed  programs  sent 
out  met  with  a  generous  attendance  in  response,  the  program 
being  arranged  to  interest  and  benefit  the  parents,  and  pro- 
viding a  review  on  some  phase  of  child  life,  a  lesson  in  music, 
a  lesson  in  the  use  of  kindergarten  material  in  the  home,  and 
opportunity  and  encouragement  for  free  discussion  of  the 
subject  for  the  day  by  those  present. 

During  the  twenty  meetings  which  were  held  the  following 
topics  were  reviewed  and  discussed : 

Children's  Play  Activities;  A  Study  of  Dolls,  Hall  and 
Ellis;  Questionaire  on  Children's  Discipline  of  Dolls;  Chil- 
dren's Lies,  G.  Stanley  Hall ;  Punishment — review  of  Barnes' 
Discipline;  Punishment,  Caroline  Frear;  Chapter  on  Pun- 
ishment by  Herbert  Spencer;  Children's  Attitude  Toward 
Law,  Estelle  M.  Darrah;  Punishment  as  Seen  by  Children, 
Barnes;  Children's  Time  Sense,  Snedden;  Children's 
Drawings,  illustrations  of  Stories;  The  Story  Interest; 
Babies  and  Monkeys,  Buckman;  Food,  Clothing,  Ventila- 
tion, and  Sleep  from  a  Physician's  Standpoint;  Effects  of 
Punishment  from  a  Medical  Point  of  View ;  Truancy,  L.  W. 
Cline.  The  discussion  of  the  study  of  dolls  resulted  in  a 
generous  contribution  of  dolls  to  the  four  kindergartens,  and 
a  marked  increase  of  dolls  in  the  homes,  especially  for  boys. 

INTEREST  AND  AID  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  ASSOCIATION: 
Other  gifts  in  the  shape  of  toys,  picture  books,  four  sets  of 
building  blocks  of  large  size,  toy  dishes,  small  wagon  for 
crippled  child  to  be  used  during  the  walks,  three  comfortable 
lounges  for  the  comfort  of  crippled  children,  stand- table,  ca- 
nary birds,  potted  plants,  large  clock  with  swinging  pendu- 
lum, swings,  see-saws,  money  for  shoes  and  other  necessities, 
an  abundance  of  comfortable  clothing,  have  been  generously 
contributed  during  the  year  by  friends  interested  in  the  kin- 
dergartens, through  the  helpful ,  influence  of  the  Kinder- 
garten Association.  Santa  Barbara  may  well  be  proud  of  the 


OUTLINE  OF  PAST  YEAR  S  WORK  7 

active  force  of  wide-awake  and  progressive  women,  who,  as 
an  association,  are  a  power  in  the  community  for  the  uplifting 
of  humanity,  by  putting  into  the  lives  of  the  little  ones  those 
influences  which  promote  the  desire  for  self-activity  and  self- 
help. 

The  amount  of  good  work  that  has  been  done  by  this  asso- 
ciation this  year  cannot  be  estimated  in  dollars  and  cents,  and 
its  value  to  the  community  cannot  be  too  highly  estimated  by 
the  citizens  of  Santa  Barbara.  Let  these  ladies  once  feel  the 
necessity  for  any  progressive  change  or  improvement  of  pres- 
ent conditions,  and  the  response  comes  quickly  and  generous- 
ly. Two  of  the  rooms  used  for  the  purpose  being  unsuitable, 
the  Kindergarten  Association,  through  the  earnest  efforts  of 
the  President,  Mrs.  M.  D.  Tallant,  built  two  new  buildings 
on  the  school  grounds,  planned  to  meet  the  needs  and  ad- 
vantages of  the  mild  and  even  climate  of  the  coast.  These 
buildings  were  first  occupied  in  January.  Perhaps  the  most 
novel  and  pleasing  features  of  these  buildings  are  the  large 
sliding  doors  placed  in  two  adjacent  sides  so  that  the  rooms 
may  be  practically  thrown  open  to  the  outside  world  of  fresh 
air  and  sunshine,  bees,  birds,  and  blossoms,  and  the  objection 
to  shutting  children  away  from  the  healthful  influences  of 
sea  breezes  and  the  direct  rays  of  sunlight  is  reduced  to  a 
minimum.  The  rooms  are  well  lighted  by  oblong  windows 
placed  lengthwise  in  doors  and  walls,  with  long  shelves  under 
the  windows  and  above  the  hyloplate  blackboards,  where 
growing  plants,  gold  fish,  and  objects  of  interest  attract  and 
hold  the  wandering  attention  of  the  little  ones  upon  pleasing 
and  suggestive  objects,  rather  than  upon  blank  walls,  or 
pictures  too  lofty,  literally  or  figuratively,  for  their  simple 
comprehension.  The  advantage  of  separate  buildings  for 
kindergartens  is  so  obvious  as  to  need  no  comment  further 
than  the  fact  that  there  is  no  necessity  nor  excuse  for  sup- 
pressing the  spontaneity  of  child  life  where  the  kindergarten 
is  independent  of  the  restrictive  outside  conditions,  which  a 
too  close  proximity  to  the  school  is  certain  to  impose.  Too 
much  credit  cannot  be  given  to  the  self-sacrifice  and  in- 
domitable equanimity  under  discouragements  of  Mrs.  Tallant 
in  securing,  through  the  cooperation  of  the  Association 


8  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

these  modern,  up-to-date  buildings,  fitted  with  all  that 
loving  hearts  and  wise  heads  could  suggest  for  the  comfort 
and  happiness  of  Santa  Barbara's  little  ones.  She  has  proved 
through  her  connection  with  the  Association  as  a  charter 
member  for  thirteen  years,  her  wise  management  as  president 
of  the  affairs  of  that  body  for  five  years,  her  regular  attend- 
ance at  seminary  and  teachers'  meetings,  a  devotion  to  the 
cause  which  she  upholds,  which  makes  her  as  true  a  friend  of 
education  and  the  children,  as  ever  could  be  said  of  Froebel. 
The  present  president,  Dr.  Ida  V.  Stambach,  brings  to  the 
work  as  staunch  a  friend  and  vigorous  a  worker  as  the  fore- 
going president.  One  of  her  first  acts  was  to  bring  before  the 
notice  of  the  Association  the  value  of  a  covered  pavilion 
where  the  children  might  work  and  play  in  the  open  air  in 
large  sand  bins,  where  they  could  be  protected  from  the  heat 
of  the  sun,  yet  receive  the  full  benefit  of  its  healthful  influ- 
ence. The  result  is  a  fine  pavilion  in  the  Third  ward,  with 
ingenious  arrangements  of  hinged  shelves,  so  that  the  chil- 
dren in  pleasant  weather  may  be  out  of  doors  the  whole 
morning,  working,  modeling,  drawing,  singing  through  the 
flying  moments,  which  makes  a  morning  of  happiness  all  too 
short  for  the  contented  children. 

ORPHA  M.  QUAYLE,  Supervisor 


SOME  NEUROLOGICAL  CONDITIONS  OF 
CHILDHOOD 

The  essential  contention  of  education  viewed  from  the 
standpoint  of  modern  child  psychology  is  that  there  are 
epochs  or  stages  in  the  child's  mental  and  physical  growth, 
that  each  higher  stage  is  reached  by  passing  through  a  more 
primitive  stage,  and  that  the  lower  stage  may  be  essentially 
different  in  character  from  the  higher  stage.  For  example,  it 
is  clear  that  the  moral  nature  of  the  adult  is  only  obtained  by 
passing  through  lower  phases,  many  of  which  are  "unmoral" 
or  even  immoral  judged  by  adult  standards.  The  criticism 
which  is  passed  upon  many  of  the  attempts  of  the  old 
education  is  that  efforts  have  been  made  to  make  late 
activities  and  conceptions  grow  in  lower  stages.  The  modern 
sciences  have  done  much  to  establish  the  truth  of  this 
contention  and  child  psychology  in  the  past  decade  has  been 
busily  engaged  in  gathering  data  from  the  various  sciences 
and  by  observation  of  its  special  field  to  mark  out  the  fence 
lines  of  these  stages  in  the  development  of  the  various 
physical  and  mental  activities,  though  of  course,  as  yet, 
results  are  by  no  means  clear  and  definite  in  detail.  We  are 
yet  in  the  pioneer  phase  of  the  work. 

The  struggle  between  the  old  and  new  education  is  perhaps 
more  difficult  in  the  field  of  kindergarten  education  than  in 
school  education  for  two  reasons:  First,  the  kindergarten  is 
furthest  removed  from  adult  life,  consequently  the  antithesis 
is  most  marked  and  efforts  to  force  adult  activities  are 
necessarily  more  striking.  In  the  second  place,  school 
education,  especially  in  America,  is  more  largely  a  product  of 
experience,  while  the  kindergarten  scheme  of  education  has 
been  derived  more  purely  from  philosophy,  and  again, 
especially  in  America,  it  has  been  promulgated  chiefly  by  the 
Hegelian  metaphysical  movement.  The  sweetly  poetic  and 
pantheistic  conceptions  of  Froebel  have  been  translated 
and  interpreted  into  the  still  more  vague  metaphysical 


IO  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

phraseology  of  the  Hegelian  school  until  the  real  experience 
products  of  Froebel's  teaching  have  become  will-o'-the-wisps 
in  the  burying  ground  of  a  deceased  cult  of  metaphysics. 

Modern  neurology  is  giving  the  principle  of  stages  in 
development  a  sound  scientific  basis.  We  have  learned  that 
the  nervous  system,  which  is  an  essential  factor  not  only  in 
all  physical  but  in  all  mental  activity  as  well,  is  a  republic  of 
more  or  less  independent  parts,  each  having  for  its  function 
some  particular  physical  or  mental  activity.  While  as  yet 
the  location  and  connections  of  these  parts  have  not  been 
fully  mapped  out  in  detail,  yet  several  are  known — the 
centers  of  the  various  bodily  movements,  of  sight,  hearing 
and  speech  in  the  brain  cortex,  for  example.  Second,  we 
know  that  the  nervous  system  is  constructed  upon  a  plan  of 
superposition  of  structures.  The  centers  for  the  cruder,  more 
inaccurate  movements  of  the  arm  and  hand,  for  example,  are 
located  in  the  spinal  cord.  The  more  accurate,  delicate 
control  of  the  fingers,  arm  and  hand,  which  has  been 
developed  by  the  more  modern  forms  of  civilization,  is 
directed  by  cells  in  t;he  brain.  These  cells  do  not  send  out 
fibers  to  the  arm  directly,  paralleling  those  from  the  original 
cells  in  the  spinal  cord,  but  they  send  down  fibers  merely  to 
these  latter  cells  so  modifying  and  introducing  new  factors 
into  their  direction,  that  the  muscles  gain  new  powers  of 
accuracy,  delicacy  and  possibly  of  strength.  This  fact  is 
neatly  shown  in  forms  of  paralysis  where  the  disease  first 
•attacks  the  brain  cells  of  a  certain  area;  not  all  the  move- 
ments of  the  member  become  affected,  but  only  the  more 
accurate  and  delicate,  for  the  reason  that  the  movements 
controlled  by  the  lower  centers  in  the  spinal  cord  are  still 
healthy.  Third,  mainly  through  the  researches  of  Dr.  Paul 
Flechsig  of  Leipzic  upon  the  nervous  system  of  the  foetus 
and  infants,  it  has  been  clearly  shown  that  these  levels,  or 
layers,  of  the  nervous  system  begin  to  mature  at  different 
periods.  The  spinal  cord  is  well  matured  at  birth,  while  the 
brain  cortex  is  wholly  immature.  The  movements  which 
occur  before,  and  many  of  which  occur  for  a  long  time  after 
birth  are  directed  wholly  by  cells  in  the  spinal  cord,  medulla 
oblongata  and  pons.  Gradually,  and  by  definite  periods, 


SOME  NEUROLOGICAL  CONDITIONS  OF  CHILDHOOD          1 1 

cells  and  fibers  ripen  in  an  upward  direction,  commencing 
first  in  the  areas  lying  about  the  fissure  of  Rolando  which 
controls  the  bodily  movements;  in  the  visual  area,  located  in 
the  occipital  region ;  and  the  auditory  centers,  located  in  the 
first  temporal  convolution.  Flechsig  shows  further  that 
throughout  the  brain  the  other  areas  have  different  and 
more  or  less  definite  times  for  coming  to  maturity  so 
they  can  be  used.  On  the  other  hand,  the  facts  derived  from 
studies  upon  the  brains  of  insane  adults  show  a  progress  of 
disease  in  the  reverse  direction  by  similar  stages.  In  fact, 
with  the  introduction  of  the  level  principle  in  the  application 
to  mental  disease  in  England  some  thirty  years  ago  by 
Dn.Hughlings  Jackson,  medical  practice  has  been  entirely 
revolutionized  and  placed  upon  a  new  basis. 

Education  is  now  struggling  for  the  same  principle  in 
pedagogic  practice.  With  the  recognition  that  the  nervous 
system  is  built  up  by  superposed  layers,  that  there  is 
an  order,  established  by  fixed  laws  of  heredity  in  the 
order  of  development  of  these  nerve  cells  and  that  it  is 
necessary  for  the  lower  layers  or  levels  to  be  fostered  and 
developed  to  their  legitimate  maturity  by  suitable  exercises, 
to  the  end  that  the  next  higher  levels  of  nerve  centers  may 
have  a  substantial  basis,  we  step  firmly  to  the  pedagogic 
application  that  there  are  superposed  levels  in  the  child's 
education,  that  there  is  an  order  of  development  established 
by  fixed  laws  of  heredity,  for  the  deeper  and  more  funda- 
mental activity  of  mental  and  physical  life.  From  this 
standpoint,  we  must  recognize  pedagogically  that  there  is, 
for  example,  a  system  of  primitive  child  morals,  derived  from 
heredity,  which  must  have  its  period  before  adult  conceptions 
of  morals  can  be  developed.  So  with  art,  literature,  number, 
reasoning,  religion,  play,  physical  culture,  etc.  And  on  the 
other  hand,  we  must  not  be  zealous  in  forcing  upon  the 
kindergarten  child  adolescent  forms  of  these  activities,  for 
the  child  is  not  a  little  adult,  but  rather  a  seed. 

Flechsig's  studies,  however,  deal  merely  with  the  begin- 
nings of  development  of  nerve  centers.  His  method  is  not 
serviceable  when  the  nervous  system  becomes  so  well 
developed  and  complexity  baffles  the  powers  of  the  micro- 


12  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

scope.  Other  investigators,  however,  have  shown  that  this 
principle  of  development  is  continued  very  actively  through- 
out childhood  and  adolescence,  and  in  lessened  degree 
throughout  adult  life  until  the  disintegration  of  old  age  sets 
in.  There  are  no  clean-cut  breaks  in  development,  we  know, 
and  while  we  cannot  lay  off,  except  arbitrarily,  the  beginning 
and  ending  points  of  the  growth  period  of  any  activity, 
nevertheless  we  may  perhaps  recognize  certain  classes  of 
activities  as  predominating  in  certain  periods  of  life.  We 
have  seen  that  the  first  centers  of  the  nervous  system  to 
develop  are  those  of  the  spinal  cord,  medulla  and  pons, 
controlling  the  more  primitive  movements  of  the  body,  that 
some  months  later  the  centers  of  the  higher  level  of  these 
movements,  located  jn  the  brain  cortex,  representing  the 
more  delicate  and  accurate  modifications  of  these  move- 
ments, together  with  the  sense  centers  of  sight,  hearing, 
touch,  taste  and  smell,  begin  to  mature.  The  first  level  has 
its  period  of  predominating  nascency  in  the  embryological 
period  and  during  infancy.  The  second  level  begins  in 
infancy  and  continues  as  a  predominating  activity  until  the 
child  is  six  or  seven  years  of  age,  facts  of  observation  assure 
us.  Later  is  a  period  when  the  centers  lying  about  the  sense 
centers  and  those  for  bodily  movement  and  representing  a 
still  higher  level  having  to  do  with  memories  of  things  seen, 
heard,  felt  and  tasted  and  their  associations  develop.  We 
know  from  researches  upon  the  brains  of  the  insane,  from 
aphasic  patients  and  those  suffering  from  paralysis,  that  there 
are  such  areas  separate  from  the  lower  levels  of  sense.  For 
example,  there  are  cases  of  patients  who  hear  distinctly  the 
sound  of  words  spoken  to  them,  but  are  unable  to  understand 
the  meaning.  Post-mortem  examination  has  shown  a 
healthy  condition  of  the  auditory  sense  center  in  the  temporal 
convolution,  but  diseased  conditions  are  found  in  adjacent 
area  lying  in  the  supra-marginal  convolution.  These  patients 
are  in  an  analogous  condition  to  the  infant  who  can  hear 
sounds,  but  the  adjacent  center  for  obtaining  meaning  from 
them  is  as  yet  undeveloped.  Again  from  objective  observa- 
tions upon  children  we  may  come  to  the  tentative  conclusion 
roughly  speaking,  that  the  period  from  six  to  seven  until 


SOME  NEUROLOGICAL  CONDITIONS  OF  CHILDHOOD          13 

eleven  or  twelve  represents  a  period  of  predominating 
activity  in  these  still  higher  levels  of  nerve  centers  represent- 
ing the  memories  of  the  senses  and  their  associations  with 
other  centers  which  give  a  wider  range  to  thought. 

Still  the  child  cannot  reason  without  the  presence  or  clear 
memory  picture  of  the  object.  He  has  no  abstract  concep- 
tions, nor  can  his  thought  travel  far  without  the  aid  of 
objects,  sensed  or  remembered.  There  are  regions  of  the 
brain,  representing  considerably  more  than  one-half  in  area, 
which  seem  to  have  nothing  directly  to  do  with  the  senses  or 
bodily  movement.  They  may  be  severely  injured  without 
causing  death  or  any  great  impairment  of  bodily  or  sense 
powers.  Many  students  unhesitatingly  attribute  to  them  the 
functions  of  higher  reason,  abstract  thinking,  etc.  There  is 
much  in  the  study  of  the  insane  and  aphasic  patients  to 
sustain  the  view.  It  is  further  held  by  some,  upon  grounds 
of  neurological  observation,  that  the  cells  in  this  region 
constitute  the  highest  levels,  that  the  fibers  do  not  extend 
great  distances,  but  merely  reach  to  the  cells  of  the  sense 
areas  already  described.  They  bear  the  same  anatomical 
relation  to  the  cells  of  the  next  lower  level  that  the  cells  in 
the  lowest  brain  levels  bear  to  the  cells  of  the  spinal  cord,  i.e., 
they  extend  down  and  modify  and  more  or  less  control  the 
lower  cells,  introducing  new  and  more  accurate  and  delicate 
activities.  Again  there  is  much  evidence  to  show  that  they 
are  the  latest  of  all  brain  structures  to  mature.  From  the 
standpoint  of  observation  of  human  action,  we  perhaps  may 
put  their  predominating  growth  in  the  adolescent  age,  from 
ii  or  12  to  25  years.  They  do  not  parallel  old  forms  of 
activity,  but  modify  them.  Following  the  principle  of 
nervous  growth,  they  need  for  their  healthful  existence  the 
lower  structures,  and  these  lower  structures  must  have  made 
full  use  of  their  growing  period  in  order  to  constitute  a 
healthy  basis  for  the  highest  level. 

Summing  up,  we  may  conclude  tentatively  as  to  details 
that  we  may  see  three  or  four  great  periods  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  child — first,  a  period  of  early  infancy,  when  the 
predominating  amount  of  growth  is  taking  place  in  the 
spinal  cord  and  lowest  centers;  second,  a  period  extending 


14  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

from  infancy  until  six  or  seven,  when  the  predominating 
growth  takes  place  in  brain  levels  of  bodily  action  and  in  the 
sense  centers ;  third,  a  period  from  six  or  seven  until  puberty, 
when  the  predominating  activity  is  in  the  level  above  the 
sense  centers,  memories  and  their  association  one  with  the 
other,  and  these  are  introducing  their  modifying  influences 
upon  the  lower  centers;  fourth,  the  period  of  adolescence, 
when  from  the  highest  levels  the  entire  nervous  system  is 
again  centrally  coordinated,  the  power  of  thought  without 
the  direct  use  of  objects  or  their  memories  becomes  possible. 
So  far  as  neurological  data  give  evidence,  the  order  of 
development  is  ever, from  those  structures  which  are  oldest 
in  the  race  towards  those  which  are  the  most  recent.  The 
child  repeats  in  a  general  way  at  least  the  tendencies  of  his 
hereditary  history,  and  in  the  order  of  racial  evolution.  The 
lowest  centers,  which  are  the  most  primitive  are  least  subject 
to  modification.  They  represent  what  is  instinctive.  Educa- 
tion, in  the  sense  of  modification  of  hereditary  bents,  is  now 
least  possible.  Education,  for  these,  is  exercise  of  them. 
Education,  as  a  factor  of  modification,  is  best  applicable  to 
the  highest  and  latest  structures.  The  kindergarten  child 
thinks  in  his  lower  brain  levels  and  demands  from  education 
the  opportunity  and  incentives  for  free  activity  of  his  lower 
instinctive  activities  to  the  end  that  by  their  strengthening 
education  by  modification  in  the  adolescent  period  shall  have 
a  well  developed  foundation.  The  function  of  education  for 
adolescents  may  be,  and  doubtless  should  largely  be,  the 
adaptation  of  the  pupil  to  the  world  in  which  we  live — to  its 
conceptions  and  methods  of  material  living,  of  literature,  of 
art,  and  of  morals  and  religion.  His  highest  nerve  centers 
are  pliable,  easy  to  bend  and  train  to  form  new  associations. 
But  the  kindergarten  child  is  yet  passing  through  the  deep 
worn  ravines  of  primitive  life.  His  morals,  his  art,  his 
literature,  his  religion  are  of  a  primitive  type,  dealing  largely 
with  bodily  movements,  sense  ideas  and  their  memories. 
Much  of  it,  doubtless,  is  mere  scaffolding  which  must  be 
substituted  for  when  the  highest  centers  of  his  brain  take 
control.  We  must  let  his  tendencies  lead  us  to  the  end  that 
he  may  as  an  adolescent  follow  ours. 


SOME  NEUROLOGICAL  CONDITIONS  OF  CHILDHOOD          15 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1.  FLECHSIG,  PAUL.     Die  Leitungsbahnen  im  Gehirn  und  Ruckenbark. 

Leipzig,  1876. 

2.  FLECHSIG,  PAUL.    Gehirn  und  Seek.    1896. 

3.  FLECHSIG,  PAUL.    Die  Localization  der  Geistigen  Vorgange  inbesondere 

der  Sinnes  empfindungen.    1896. 

4.  VULPIUS,    OSCAR.     Archiv.  f.    Psychiat   u.    Nervenkrankeiten,    Vol. 

XXIII,  1892. 

5.  KAES.    "Ueber  den  Markfasergehalt  der  Hirnrinde  bei  pathologischen 

Gehirn."    Deutsch  W'chr.,  No.  10  and  n,  1898. 

6.  DONALDSON,  H.  H.     "Education  of  the  Nervous  System."    Educa-. 

tional  Review,  February,  1895. 

7.  HALLECK,  R.  P.    The  Education  of  the  Central  Nervous  System.    Mac- 

millan,  1897. 

8.  HALLECK,  R.  P.    "The  Bearings  of  the  Laws  of  Cerebral  Development 

and  Modifications  on  Child  Study.    Proceedings,  N.  E.  A.    1897. 

9.  MERCIER,  CHARLES.     The  Nervous  System  and  Mind.     Macmillan, 

1888. 

10.  DONALDSON,  H.  H.    Growth  of  the  Brain.    Scribners,  1895. 

11.  BURK,  FREDERIC.    "From  Fundamental  to  Accessory  in  the  Develop- 

ment of  the  Nervous  System  and  of  Movements."    Pedagogical 
Seminary,  October,  1898. 

FREDERIC  BURK 


PHYSICAL  CULTURE 

The  kindergarten  ages  cover  a  period  when  the  largest 
proportion  of  the  movements  of  the  human  body  are  becom- 
ing adjusted  and  coordinated.  It  is  the  period  preeminent  of 
the  adjustment  of  nerve  and  muscle  in  all  the  coarser,  more 
fundamental  movements.  Neurological  investigation  of 
recent  years  has  shown  that  the  first  portions  of  the  brain  of 
the  infant  to  mature  are  the  sensory  motor  centers  having  to 
do  with  bodily  movements,  lying  about  the  fissure  of 
Rolando,  and  on  the  side  of  child  observation  it  is  to  be  noted 
that  for  the  first  six  years  of  life  these  activities  are  passing 
through  their  periods  of  nascency.  The  child  is  actively 
exercising  his  body,  legs  and  arms  in  their  more  general  and 
cruder  usages.  It  is  the  period  of  instinctive  movements 
when  the  child  is  receiving  from  race  heredity  the  movements 
and  actions  his  ancestors  have  used.  In  a  later  period  he 
adds  those  finer  adjustments  of  finger  and  eye  in  accurate 
manipulations  which  are  the  products,  to  a  greater  degree,  of 
his  own  individuality  and  experience.  The  movements  he 
makes,  the  plays  he  most  enjoys,  the  exercises  in  which  he 
most  readily  takes  part,  are  those  in  which  children  of  all 
human  history  have  ever  participated,  and  which  for 
primitive  man  constituted  his  chief  employment.  There  is 
reason  for  believing,  in  conformity  with  these  facts,  that  the 
portions  of  the  child's  nervous  system  which  are  maturing  up 
to  six  or  seven  years  of  age  are  those  which  are  old  and  well 
established,  racially — structures  so  well  determined  that 
attempted  modification  of  them  by  corrective  training  is 
difficult  if  not  dangerous. 

Roberts,  the  English  anthropometrist,  reports  that  while 
it  is  easy,  by  systematic  exercise,  to  develop  the  body  of  the 
boy  after  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age,  it  is  not  possible  to 
do  so  before  that  time — the  muscles  will  not  "train."  There 
are  many  physiological  changes  which  take  place  during  the 
pubertal  age  to  account  for  this  fact.  The  nascent  period  for 
growth  of  the  lungs,  which  seems  intimately  connected  with 


PHYSICAL  CULTURE  17 

the  development  of  strength  and  muscularity  in  general,  is 
after  twelve  years.  About  half  the  strength  of  a  boy  of 
sixteen  years  is  acquired  in  the  last  four  years  of  that  period, 
as  shown  by  the  dynamometer  test  in  America  and  England. 

Physical  culture  in  unfortunate  parlance  has  come  to  mean 
a  set  of  calesthenics,  aesthetic  marchings,  systematic  plays  or 
dictated  games.  Experience,  pedagogic  theory  and  hygiene 
make  it  equally  questionable  that  such  exercises  have  any 
place  in  the  kindergarten.  There  is  no  evidence  in  the 
childhood  period  of  any  system  of  logical  order  in  the 
development  of  the  various  human  movements,  nor  of  any 
system  to  which  we  have  a  practical  key.  On  the  contrary, 
movements  appear  in  childhood  in  a  series  that  to  the  adult 
mind  with  love  of  orderly  system  seems  vagrant  caprice. 
The  infant  at  birth  is  born  with  a  power  to  grip  the  hand  with 
a  force  that  is  marvelous,  yet  he  is  unable  to  use  his  thumb 
until  five  or  six  months  are  passed.  The  tendency  of  most 
young  infants,  again,  is  to  use  their  eyes  independently,  and 
it  is  only  until  several  months  are  passed  that  coordinated 
direction  of  the  eyes  is  firmly  established;  yet,  on  the  other 
hand,  an  infant  is  several  months  old  before  he  can  direct  one 
hand  in  a  movement  without  having  the  other  hand  duplicate 
the  same  movement.  Why  should  a  two-eyed  and  a  two- 
handed  human  child  grow  out  from  bilateral  movement  in 
the  case  of  the  hands  and  into  it  in  the  case  of  the  eyes?  The 
immediate  cause,  of  course,  is  in  certain  inherited  structural 
arrangements  of  his  nervous  system,  finding  root,  doubtless, 
in  the  fact  that  throughout  all  lower  animal  life  the  use  of  the 
forelimbs  has  been  bilateral,  while  the  eyes  have  moved, 
largely  independently  of  one  another.  These  are  merely 
illustrations.  The  order  of  early  development  is  regulated  by 
internal  heredity,  and  deeply  worn  laws,  and  we  pedagogues 
have  not  yet  copied  them  from  nature's  text-book. 

Does  it  follow,  in  consequence,  that  physical  culture  has 
no  place  in  the  kindergarten?  By  no  means.  As  will  be 
shown  in  the  study  upon  the  spontaneous  physical  activities 
of  the  Santa  Barbara  kindergarten  children,  nature  has 
provided  her  physical  culture  school  in  children's  instinctive 
plays,  and  her  instructor  in  their  instinctive  preferences  for 


1 8  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

this  play  or  that,  is  interest.  When  our  stomachs  need  food, 
hunger  informs  us;  when  overwork  intervenes,  fatigue 
warns  us.  When  the  time  arrives  for  the  bird  to  learn  to 
fly,  a  child  to  creep  or  walk,  an  instinctive  feeling  impels  the 
activity.  When  the  nerve  cells  which  control  any  activity 
become  mature,  their  surcharged  energy  tends  to  discharge 
in  certain  courses  of  movement.  Children's  instinctive  plays 
are  the  products  of  these  impulses.  The  games  made  up  of 
jumping,  running,  pursuing,  throwing,  do  answer  these 
instinctive  impulses.  They  are  the  products  of  ages  of 
natural  selection.  The  plays  wrhich  do  not  give  the  discharge 
to  these  inner  feelings  have  been  discarded,  while  those 
which  do  are  called  into  requisition  repeatedly.  Nature  is 
also  a  guide  to  the  amount  of  exercise.  Weariness  compels 
quiet  and  time  for  recuperation.  When  we  think  of  the 
number  of  physical  movements  which  are  passing  through 
their  critical  periods  of  nascency  during  the  kindergarten 
period,  their  delicacy,  and  the  necessity  for  the  untrammeled 
freedom  to  play  or  to  rest,  we  cannot  but  be  brought  to  the 
realization  that  the  intelligent  attention  of  the  kindergarten 
should  be  given  to  this  field  of  education.  As  stated,  it  is 
impossible  to  prescribe  the  system  or  order  of  exercise,  for 
those  are  matters  beyond  our  ken,  but  the  kindergarten  can 
guard  the  child's  right  to  play,  encourage  it  by  providing  free 
and  frequent  opportunities  and  incentives  for  all  kinds  of 
exercise — clean  sand  to  roll,  build  and  model  in,  mounds  to 
jump  from,  trees  and  poles  to  climb,  balustrades  to  slide 
from,  paths  to  run  in,  bushes  to  hide  in,  balls  to  throw,  ham- 
mers with  which  to  pound,  garden  tools,  saws,  and  plenty  of 
room  for  romping,  chasing,  and  other  similar  activities.  Not 
only  can  the  kindergarten,  thus  directly,  give  incentives  for 
the  free  plays,  but  the  suggestions  which  the  kindergarten 
offers  will  be  used  in  hours  at  home.  And  where  is  time  for 
all  this  play  outside  the  regular  kindergarten  curriculum  to 
come  from?  Frankly,  I  do  not  know.  When  we  think  of 
what  an  intelligent  kindergarten  could  accomplish  in  thus 
protecting  the  child's  right  and  need  for  his  instinctive  plays, 
the  all-day  kindergarten  with  at  least  half  the  time  scattered 
about  in  free  recesses  seems  to  rise  as  the  institution  of  the 


PHYSICAL  CULTURE  19 

future.  But  certainly  under  present  conditions  we  have  no 
right,  pedagogical,  physiological,  or  hygienic,  to  pen  up 
children,  from  four  to  six  years  of  age,  for  three  hours  with 
only  one  recess  of  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes.  The  excuse 
frequently  offered  that  children  are  engaged  in  the  kinder- 
garten games  is  an  untenable  one.  In  the  German  schools 
numerous  psycho-physical  tests  have  been  made  upon  the 
recuperative  value  of  turning,  gymnastic  exercises,  etc.  It 
has  been  shown  that  these  are  more  fatiguing  than  the 
mental  school  work  and  should  not  be  interpolated,  even  in 
the  higher  school  grades,  as  a  recuperative  means.  Kraepelin, 
the  foremost  investigator  of  the  influences  of  fatigue, 
condemns  it,  and  the  studies  of  Wagner,  Kemsies  and  others 
agree  in  the  same  conclusion,  and  further  that  spontaneous 
play  is  less  fatiguing  than  the  set  exercises.  The  essence 
of  play  for  young  children  is  that  it  should  be  directed  by  the 
hereditary  and  instinctive  impulses  from  within,  and  the 
aesthetic,  or  morally  instinctive  games  of  the  kindergarten  are 
to  be  ranked  with  a  diet  of  beefsteak  for  suckling  infants — 
they  are  grossly  premature. 

DRAWING,  AS  HAND  AND  EYE  EXERCISE:  As  soon  as  the 
child  enters  school,  at  the  age  of  six  years,  he  is  taught  to 
write — an  exercise  of  hand  and  eye  coordination  of  extreme 
delicacy.  This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the  hygienic 
justice  of  the  requirement  of  the  primary  school.  The  simple 
fact  is  that  children  of  six  years  are  required  to  write,  and 
probably  will  be,  despite  the  wrong  or  the  right  of  the  matter. 
Can  the  kindergarten  prepare  the  child  for  this  sudden 
demand  upon  hand  and  eye  adjustments?  Fortunately,  the 
facts  are  clear  that  the  child  is  favored  in  the  matter  by  two 
strong  instincts  admirably  adapted  to  serve  the  purpose  of 
preparation — the  instinct  for  ball  throwing  and  the  instinct 
for  drawing.  If  balls  are  kept  in  access  of  children  there  will 
be  found  few  recesses  at  which  they  are  not  in  use.  The 
throwing  of  a  ball  exercises  the  more  fundamental  adjust- 
ments of  arm,  wrist  and  hand,  and  serves  as  a  valuable 
preparation  to  all  hand  movements.  Any  one  who  doubts  its 
value  should  read  those  two  educational  classics,  by  Edouard 
Seguin,  The  Psycho-Physiological  Training  of  the  Idiotic  Hand, 


2O  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

and  The  Psycho-physiological  Training  of  the  Idiotic  Eye. 
The  drawing  instinct  will  later  be  discussed  as  a  language 
incentive.  Let  us  now  regard  it  as  a  physical  exercise  in 
preparing  the  hand  for  the  more  delicate  adjustments  of 
writing.  It  should  commence  with  blackboard  exercises  and 
illustrations  of  stories  of  interest.  The  blackboard  position 
prevents  a  rest  of  the  wrist  with  that  cramped  use  of  the 
fingers,  and  insists  upon  large,  free  arm  movement.  The 
chalk  does  not  require  the  finger  strength  which  a  pencil 
does.  Gradually,  however,  work  with  the  pencil  upon  paper 
may  be  used,  but  always  in  such  a  free  way  that  the  child 
does  not  weary.  Later  the  brush  and  the  water  colors  may 
find  useful  place,  for  the  brush  requires  a  light  touch  and 
prepares  the  child  to  avoid  that  cramped  twist  and  gripping 
of  the  pen  we  so  often  see  in  the  primary  schools  as  a  certain 
evidence  that  the  hand  is  yet  too  immature  to  use  the  pen. 

Clay  modeling,  also,  has  here  its  place,  provided  children 
are  not  unnaturally  forced  to  strive  for  aesthetic  ideals  or 
mathematical  exactness  of  form,  for  which  instinct  has  as 
yet  made  no  provision. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1.  SHINN,  MILLICENT.    Notes  on  the  Development  of  a  Child.    Univ.  of 

California  Studies,  1893. 

2.  MOORE,  KATHLEEN  C.    Mental  Development  of  a  Child.     Psychological 

Review  Monograph  Supplement,  No.  3.    Macmillan,  1896. 

3.  BURK,   FREDERIC..     "Growth   of  Children  in   Height  and  Weight." 

American  Journal  of  Psychology,  April,  1898. 

4.  BURK,  FREDERIC.    "From  Fundamental  to  Accessory  in  the  Develop- 

ment of  the  Nervous  System  and  of  Movements."    Pedagogical 
Seminary,  October  1898. 

5.  SEGUIN,  EDOUARD.     The  Psycho-Physiological  Training  of  an  Idiotic 

Hand.    Archives  of  Medicine,  1879. 

6.  HALL,  MRS.  W.  S.    "First  Hundred  Days  of  a  Child's  Life."    Child 

Study  Monthly,  December  1896. 

7.  ROBINSON,    Louis.     "Darwinism   in   the  Nursery."     iQth  Century, 

November,  1895. 

8.  BUCKMAN.     "Babies  and  Monkeys."    IQth  Century,  November,  1894. 

9.  BURK,  FREDERIC.    "Teasing  and  Bullying."    Pedagogical  Seminary, 

April,  1897. 

10.   GOMME,  ALICE  B.    The  Traditional  Games  of  England,  Scotland  and 
Ireland.    London,  1894. 


PHYSICAL  CULTURE  21 

11.  Games  and  Songs  of  American  Children.    New  York,  1894. 

12.  GULICK,  LUTHER.    "Some  Psychical  Aspects  of  Muscular  Exercise." 

Popular  Science  Monthly,  1898. 

13.  JOHNSON,  G.  E.     "Education  by  Plays  and  Games."     Pedagogical 

Seminary,  Vol.  Ill,  No.  i. 

14.  HUGHES,  JAMES  L.    "Educational  Value  of  Play."    Educational  Re- 

view, Vol.  VIII:  327-36. 

15.  SISSON,  GENEVRA.    "Children's  Plays."  Barnes'  Studies  in  Education, 

No.  5. 

16.  ELLIS,  A.  CASWELL  and  HALL,  G.  STANLEY.    "A  Study  of  Dolls." 

Pedagogical  Seminary,  Vol.  Ill,  No.  4. 

FREDERIC  BURK 

PRACTICAL  APPLICATIONS 

When  I  first  entered  upon  my  kindergarten  career,  when  I 
knew  vastly  more  about  the  methods  with  which  the  kinder- 
garten should  be  conducted  than  I  do  now,  the  circle  was  to 
me  the  most  awe-inspiring  institution— a  most  cherished 
symbol  of  unity.  Truly,  it  lies  within  the  realms  of  sacred 
tradition ;  little  toes  have  balanced  upon  the  painted  line  for 
nearly  a  generation,  and  so  powerful  is  its  circumferent  force 
that  no  well  bred  child  will  stray  from  the  path  of  virtue  to 
put  into  exuberant  drama  the  thoughts  inspired  by  the  story 
of  the  "Three  Bears,"  or  "Jack  be  Nimble,  Jack  be  Quick"; 
nor  will  a  daring  flight  of  fancy  be  attempted  by  the  timid 
fledgling,  standing  with  toes  planted  with  geometrical 
precision  upon  the  exact  spot  which  indicates  the  revered 
center  of  this  magic  and  all-powerful  fetich,  the  circle.  In  the 
well-conducted  and  properly-disciplined  kindergarten  of 
to-day,  the  child  is  distinctly  made  to  feel  that  he  is  out  of 
harmony,  that  he  is  selfishly  indifferent  to  the  welfare  of  the 
other  children,  that  he  is  responsible  for  the  unhappiness  of 
the  kindergarten,  if  he  wanders  away  from  this  visible  pale 
of  propriety  to  seek  the  satisfaction  of  unplanned,  sponta- 
neous play,  and  the  expression  of  his  needs  and  feelings  in  his 
own  childish  way.  He  is  left  to  think  over  his  sinful  condi- 
tion, away  from  his  patient  and  less  ambitious  companions; 
the  kindergartner  withdraws  the  light  of  her  countenance 
from  his  soul,  and  in  the  chilly  gloom  of  this  atmosphere,  the 
little  culprit  wonders  why  he  is  so  punished.  If  we  attempt 
an  honest  answer  to  the  unspoken  query  of  the  child,  we 


f 

22  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

shall  see  that  he  is  punished  for  the  ignorance  of  the  best-of- 
intentioned  adults  who  are  trying  to  force  him  out  of  a 
natural  expression  of  himself  through  the  only  channel  which 
Nature  has  provided,  into  one  which  is  abnormal  and 
unsatisfactory — to  him  at  least. 

The  plays  and  activities  of  children  at  this  age  are  almost 
wholly  individualistic,  their  interests  are  individualistic,  and 
not  until  a  much  later  period  of  their  development  should  we 
consistently  look  for  that  unity  of  purpose  and  action  of 
which  the  circle  is  the  symbol.  Dr.  Gulick  has  shown  by  his 
investigations  that  traditional  and  organized  games  belong 
to  a  later  period  of  childhood.  "The  plays  of  early  childhood 
are  individualistic,  non-competitive,  and  for  the  accom- 
plishment and  observation  of  objective  results."  1 

If  this  is  true,  the  kindergarten  organized  games  performed 
upon  the  circle,  while  reflecting  the  most  amiable  intentions 
of  adults  toward  children,  in  preparing  aesthetic  renditions  of 
traditional  games,  are  still  games  from  the  adult  standpoint, 
rather  than  the  expression  of  the  spontaneous  plays  of 
children. 

The  crudity,  lack  of  unity  of  purpose,  and  exuberant 
expression  of  the  play  spirit  when  left  free  activity,  interferes 
with  the  apparent  harmony  and  smoothly-running  schedule 
of  the  kindergarten,  and  is  therefore  unpopular  among  many 
kindergartners.  In  too  many  of  our  model  kindergartens  the 
demure  little  lads  and  lasses  have  "learned  to  play"  the  games 
so  perfectly  that  the  favorite  time  for  visiting  the  kinder- 
garten, with  many  unthinking  child-lovers,  is  during  the 
period  devoted  to  this  spectacular  performance.  For  how 
long  shall  we  kindergartners  caper  and  prance,  conscien- 
tiously devoting  our  best  energies  of  heart  and  brain  to  teach 
these  open-eyed  and  wondering  children  how  to  play? 
Might  we  not  more  profitably  learn  of  them? 

The  conviction,  for  years  latent  and  urgent  for  recogni- 
tion, that  free  play  is  the  only  rational  solution  to  Froebel's 
plea  for  self-activity,  the  undoubted  truth  of  the  revelations 
of  child  study  with  regard  to  the  ancestral  and  racial  traits 

1  Dr.  Luther  Gulick:  "Some  Psychical  Aspects  of  Muscular  Exercise,"  Popt  Sci. 
Mo.,  Oct.  1898. 


PHYSICAL  CULTURE  23 

of  childhood,  led  to  the  adoption  of  two  recess  periods  of 
20  minutes  each  for  spontaneous  play  in  the  kindergartens, 
to  take  the  place  of  the  regular  kindergarten  games,  and  the 
eagerness  with  which  the  play  incentives  were  appropriated 
and  put  into  active  service  by  the  children  revealed  the 
strength  of  their  interests.  At  first,  but  few  incentives  were 
given,  owing  to  ignorance  of  the  best  incentives  for  their 
use,  but  as  observation  and  experience  strengthened  theory, 
the  list  gradually  increased  and  modified  the  original 
provision  made.  To  a  few  bean  bags,  tin  street  cars,  wooden 
soldiers,  and  a  cloth  elephant,  whose  only  recommendation 
for  popularity  was  his  obliging  disposition  in  sacrificing  his 
dignity  by  becoming  a  football,  and  who  was  rescued  from  the 
sure  fate  which  overtakes  all  who  tamper  with  the  game,  have 
been  added  in  the  order  named,  sand  piles,  dolls,  toy  dishes, 
toy  brooms  and  dust  pans,  toy  washboards,  reins,  gas 
balls,  hammers  and  nails,  garden  tools,  footballs,  facilities  for 
climbing,  jumping,  see-saws,  swings,  and  the  latest  achieve- 
ment, a  children's  play  house,  where  the  tiny  housekeepers 
can  keep  the  miniature  family  in  the  most  approved  manner, 
and  still  have  the  benefit  of  the  fresh  air  and  sunshine. 

The  bean  bags,  the  wooden  soldiers,  the  tin  street  cars,  and 
his  lordship,  the  elephant,  have  been  consigned  to  the 
oblivion  of  deserved  rest — but  the  sand  piles  have  still  the 
busy  chattering  groups  of  little  ones,  digging  wells  and 
tunnels,  molding  and  baking  in  the  sun  the  succulent  pies 
and  cakes  so  well-known  to  our  own  happy  childhood,  sifting 
the  clean,  dry,  fascinating  sand  until  the  sudden  temptation 
to  send  a  mimic  cyclonic  deluge  over  unsuspecting  comrades 
is  only  diverted  into  more  legitimate  channels  by  the  prompt 
action  of  the  ever- vigilant  and  ever-present  kindergartner. 

The  dolls,  the  toy  dishes,  brooms,  washboards  and  flatirons 
have  a  full  share  of  attention  from  girls  and  boys  alike.  The 
house  is  swept  and  garnished,  in  the  enthusiasm  of  play,  some 
children  considerately  sprinkling  sand  upon  the  floor,  that  the 
broom  may  have  excuse  for  action;  the  doll  clothes  are 
washed  vigorously  in  the  sand  with  washboard  and  wooden 
soap,  and  ironed  while  the  iron  is  cold;  the  dishes  are 
washed  and  dried  with  imaginary  water  and  towels;  the  dolls 


24  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

are  washed  and  dressed,  one-eyed  Rosie,  of  long-suffering 
visage  and  pathetically  dangling  appearance  being  cuddled 
and  loved  and  lullabied  with  the  fairest  in  the  land;  while 
the  hostess  sets  the  table,  not  omitting  the  tiny  vase  of  weedy 
blossoms  gathered  for  the  purpose,  and  proceeds  to  serve  to 
the  sedate  and  expectant  guests  a  banquet  fit  for  the  gods. 
Sand  is  the  basis  and  inspiration  of  the  entire  menu,  and  the 
dignity  and  propriety  of  the  occasion  is  not  marred  by  any 
unseemly  behavior,  or  the  necessity  for  correction  to  the 
verge  of  tears — there  is  no  painted  line  here  to  say:  "Thou 
shalt  not." 

This  seems  like  cooperative  housekeeping,  but  no  such 
adult  occupation  is  in  reality  the  case.  Each  child  is  entirely 
absorbed  in  her  own  particular  bit  of  drama,  and  cares  not  a 
whit  about  the  success  of  the  whole. 

Meanwhile,  fiery  steeds,  restless  chargers,  and  good,  safe 
family  horses  are  being  driven  about  the  grounds,  with  long 
grass  tucked  under  the  hat  brims  for  manes,  with  tinkling 
bells,  and  drivers  with  healthily  exercised  lungs  to  keep  them  in 
subjection;  bread,  milk  and  vegetables  are  delivered  without 
money  and  without  price  to  all  who  may  ask.  Without 
rest,  or  the  usual  variation  of  eating  and  sleeping,  with  only 
an  occasional  visit  to  the  blacksmith  for  repairs,  these  horses 
and  their  remorseless  drivers,  like  Tennyson's  brook,  "go  on 
forever." 

The  gas  balls  occupy  the  attention  of  another  group  of 
children,  and,  tossing,  rolling,  bouncing,  gain  for  the  hands 
and  eyes  a  coordination  which  does  more  for  the  judicious 
development  of  accuracy  of  time  and  movement  than  could 
be  acquired  in  any  other  way. 

Hammers,  footballs,  climbing,  jumping,  swinging  and  see- 
sawing are  all  in  active  operation  at  this  time,  making  the 
twenty  minutes  all  too  short  in  which  to  enjoy  the  delights  of 
free  play. 

If  you  would  ask  for  the  whereabouts  of  the  kindergartner 
during  this  time,  if  you  imagine  that  she  is  quietly  resting  in 
a  hammock  in  some  secluded  spot,  I  would  answer  that  this 
is  her  harvest  time  for  child  study,  and  as  she  keeps  her  eyes 
and  ears  alert  for  her  needed  presence  here,  there,  and  every- 


PHYSICAL  CULTURE  25 

where  at  once,  and  her  loving  heart  ever  ready  to  meet  the 
numerous  calls  upon  her  patience,  her  strength  and  judg- 
ment, she  now  and  then  snatches  a  moment  to  put  into  her 
note  book  the  record  of  the  day's  revelation  of  Johnny's  and 
Jenny's  most  baffling  characteristics. 

The  bell  rings,  the  sand  piles  are  deserted,  the  beloved  dolls 
kissed  and  left  staring  after  the  tender  little  mothers,  the  toys 
are  replaced  in  their  boxes,  the  swings  once  more  resume  the 
perpendicular,  and  in  three  minutes,  where  all  was  life  and 
animation,  quiet  reigns  until  the  reappearance  of  the  merry 
little  ones'. 

ORPHA  M.  QUAYLE 


PLAY* 
A  STUDY  OF  KINDERGARTEN  CHILDREN 

For  about  three  months  the  kindergartners  of  Santa  Bar- 
bara have  made  systematic  observations  of  the  children's 
spontaneous  play  during  the  two  twenty-minute  morning 
recess  periods.  Each  kindergartner  has  a  note-book  and  every 
day  records  her  observations,  putting  down,  more  or  less 
descriptively,  what  the  children  play. 

In  the  four  public  kindergartens  there  are  from  140  to  175 
children  from  four  to  six  years  of  age,  representing  all  condi- 
tions of  life  from  the  white-ruffled  little  Fauntleroy  to  the 
bare-footed,  freckled  youngster  in  blue  jeans.  As  for  cosmo- 
politanism, besides  the  California-born  Americans,  there  are 
a  few  children  of  eastern  tourists,  a  decided  sprinkling  of 
Spanish  and  Mexican  urchins,  a  number  of  Italian-born,  and 
a  Chinese  pigtail  or  two — a  composite  that  certainly  ought 
to  yield  something  generic. 

Over  one  hundred  specific  varieties  of  spontaneous  play 
were  observed,  and  these  fall  easily  under  the  following 
heads:  (i),  Plays  of  Physical  Action;  (2),  Representative 
Plays;  and,  (3),  Traditional  Games.  Any  set  classification  is 
more  convenient  than  strictly  just.  The  representative  plays, 
while  distinguished  by  the  imitative  and  dramatic  elements, 
often  involve  an  immense  amount  of  physical  action.  The 
traditional  plays,  those  handed  down  from  generation  to 
generation  in  the  shape  of  formulated  games,  such  as 
"London  Bridge,"  are  based  both  on  physical  activity  and  on 
the  representative  idea.  The  following  table  shows  the 
distribution  of  the  plays  observed  without  any  cross  classifi- 
cation : 

Plays  of  Physical  Action about  25  varieties 

Representative  Plays 67  varieties 

Traditional  Games "       12  varieties 

*  Reprinted  from  Northwestern  Monthly,  March-April,  1899. 


PLAY  27 

Plays  of  physical  action  and  representative  plays  charac- 
terize almost  exclusively  the  free  activity  of  the  kinder- 
garten. These  two  fields  give  not  only  the  greatest  diversity 
of  physical  and  psychical  action,  but  they  furnish  certain 
types  of  play  which  run  day  after  day,  week  after  week,  until 
they  seem  to  be  woven  into  the  very  life  of  the  child.  The 
traditional  games,  while  presenting  some,  though  a  com- 
paratively limited  variety,  would,  if  further  compared  with 
the  less  organized  activities  as  to  the  number  of  times 
played,  fall  into  utter  insignificance. 

PLAYS  OF  PHYSICAL  ACTION 

The  list  of  physical  plays — those  in  which  the  play  instinct 
is  manifested  simply  in  the  outletting  of  physical  energy — as 
I  gather  from  the  note-books,  runs  heterogeneously  in  this 
fashion:  aimless  running,  wrestling,  racing,  sliding  down 
banisters,  jumping,  ball  (throwing  against  the  house,  throw- 
ing to  each  other,  bouncing  and  catching,  tossing  in  the 
air,  rolling  kicking,  batting),  swinging,  somersaults,  climbing, 
see-saw,  throwing  sand,  grass,  or  marbles,  trickling  sand 
through  the  fingers,  digging,  walking  beams,  pulling  children 
off  the  steps,  etc.  Ball  in  its  various  forms  is  decidedly  the 
most  popular  of  the  plays  of  physical  action,  followed  by 
jumping,  swinging,  sliding,  climbing. 

The  practical  question  is  not  so  much  what  the  children  do 
as  what  exercise  comes  out  of  what  they  do  in  their  physical 
plays.  Let  us  see  what  sort  of  physical  culture  teacher  the 
child  makes  for  himself  in  his  natural  play.  I  have  made  a 
very  rough  classification  of  the  plays  of  physical  action 
according  to  the  prominent  bodily  movements  they  involve, 
leg  movements,  arm  movements,  etc.,  as  shown  in  the 
following  table: 


Running 

Aimless 

In  many  plays 

Races 
Skipping 
Kicking 

Ball,  bean-bag,  toy  elephant,  etc. 


Leg  movements. 


28 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 


Jumping 

Up  and  down 

Along  the  ground 

Off  steps  and  benches  and  fences 

Rope 

Digging  with  the  feet 
Walking  cross-beams 

Throwing  ball,  sand,  etc. 
Tossing  ball 
Bouncing  ball 
Batting  ball 

Somersaults 

Wrestling 

Tumbling 

Rolling  hoop 

Climbing 

Falling  on  the  sand 

Pulling  children  off  the  steps 

Trickling  sand  through  the  fingers 
Squeezing  air  out  of  ball 
Catching  ball,  etc. 
Building  in  sand 

Swinging 

Sliding  down  banisters 

See-saw 


Leg  movements  (Continued). 


Arm  movements. 


Complex  movements,  arm,  leg, 
trunk. 


Hand  and  finger  movements. 


Motion  through  air  without  ef- 
fort. 


The  legs  are  two  very  important  servants  to  his  young 
lordship,  and  he  sees  that  they  are  well  trained.  He  gives 
them  an  indefinite  amount  of  running.  At  first  this  is  aimless, 
the  child  "just  runs,"  or  he  runs  and  tumbles  in  the  sand.  He 
runs  in  almost  every  game  he  plays,  and  when  he  really  goes 
into  the  business  of  it  he  starts  up  a  racing  match.  Then  he 
kicks.  He  kicks  the  ball,  he  degrades  the  bean-bag  into 
something  to  kick,  and  he  kicks  the  toy  elephant  till  life  is 
quite  extinct.  To  running  and  kicking  add  jumping— 
jumping  up  and  down,  jumping  off  steps  and  fences,  jumping 
along  the  ground,  jumping  rope — and  I  doubt  if  you  will  find 
many  idle  muscles  in  any  legs  from  four  to  six  years  old. 

A  distinctly  arm  movement  is  accomplished  by  throwing — 
throwing  ball  ad  infinitum,  and  by  way  of  substitute,  sand  or 
grass  or  what  not. 


PLAY  29 

Many  plays  give  more  complex  movements,  exercising 
both  arms  and  legs  and  the  trunk  also,  and  requiring  coordi- 
nation of  the  whole  body.  These  are  somersaults,  tumbling, 
wrestling,  climbing,  tugging,  etc. 

Then  there  are  hand  and  finger  movements — trickling  sand 
through  the  fingers,  squeezing  the  ball,  catching  the  ball, 
making  sand  structures,  etc.  It  is  the  grip  movement  that 
characterizes  chiefly  the  exercise  of  the  hand  and  fingers. 

All  these  movement  plays  require  effort,  and  yet  not  effort 
to  any  intense  degree  or  any  finely  concentrated  degree.  In 
other  words,  these  games  give  free  exercise,  but  there  is  a 
decided  lack  of  games  of  competition  or  of  force,  and  also  of 
games  involving  fine  accuracy  or  skill.  Only  a  few  cases  of 
competition  were  observed.  There  were  occasional  races  and 
isolated  instances  of  seeing  who  could  throw  the  ball  the 
farthest  or  catch  it  the  most  quickly  or  toss  the  bean-bag  the 
highest.  Three  cases  of  force  are  recorded,  two  of  pulling — 
pulling  children  oft0  the  steps,  and  pulling  the  reins  from  each 
other  to  test  the  strength — and  one  of  lifting,  the  smaller 
children  trying  to  lift  the  larger  ones. 

There  were  no  games  requiring  fine  accuracy  of  hand  or 
eye.  In  throwing  there  was  not  much  aiming  at  a  mark.  The 
nearest  approach  of  aiming  was  in  throwing  the  bean-bags 
into  the  hole  in  the  board  and  in  hitting  a  marble  off  the  top 
of  a  sand-mound  with  another  marble.  The  bean-board-  met 
with  no  enthusiasm,  however. 

Besides  the  movement  games,  requiring  effort  and  so  giving 
exercise  to  the  various  muscles,  is  another  set  of  games,  the 
delight  of  which  seems  to  consist  in  their  ability  to  give 
movement  and  motion  without  effort,  as  swinging,  sliding 
down  banisters,  see-saw,  etc.  Motion  through  the  air  seems 
to  possess  a  peculiar  charm,  to  give  a  general  sense  of 
freedom,  excitement,  exhilaration,  and  unconscious  "getting 
on  the  good  side"  of  the  law  of  gravity  (for  said  law  of  gravity 
is  not  always  in  a  friendly  mood).  The  element  of  rhythm 
in  swinging  and  see-saw  doubtless  contributes  much  to  the 
charm. 

In  general,  the  games  of  physical  action  may  be  character- 
ized by  (i)  their  lack  of  competition;  (2)  their  moderation 


3O  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

both  in  intensity  of  force  and  accuracy  of  skill;  (3)  the 
variety  of  muscular  exercise  afforded;  and,  most  important, 
(4)  the  fundamental  nature  of  the  muscles  involved. 

It  is  a  noticeable  fact  that  in  this  running,  kicking, 
jumping,  throwing,  swinging,  sliding,  climbing,  wrestling, 
turning  somersaults,  etc.,  only  the  fundamental  movements 
are  brought  into  play.  Our  tree-dwelling  ancestors  might 
have  performed  and  did  perform  any  and  all  of  these  move- 
ments, so  that  they  are  handed  down  to  the  child's  nervous 
system  with  such  a  long  and  reputable  list  of  references  that 
he  is  fain  to  make  good  use  of  them,  before  ever  he  is  ready  to 
attempt  the  newerf angled,  accessory  movements  of  finger, 
hand,  and  eye  that  have  been  added  to  the  curriculum  of 
life  by  his  nearer  ancestor — man.  The  bearing  this  fact  has 
on  kindergarten  work  is  obvious.  If  we  take  the  cue  from 
children's  natural  play  we  must  bid  Godspeed  to  the  already 
departing  "fine"  work  and  the  "accurate"  work  of  the  kinder- 
garten. 

It  is  tolerably  evident,  too,  that  no  system  of  calesthenics 
can  take  the  place  of  or  even  compete  with  the  set  of  exercises 
in  which  Dame  Instinct  instructs  the  kindergarten  child. 
Her  "system"  is  quite  as  complete  as  most  systems  furnished 
by  the  logical  adult — and  not  half  so  stupid  either.  Dame 
Instinct,  too,  knows  all  about  "nascent  periods,"  and  just 
when  certain  -aptitudes  arise  or  die  out.  She  does  not  begin 
too  soon  and  so  force  the  nerve  or  muscle ;  she  does  not  carry 
on  work  too  long,  and  so  over-fatigue  them  or  nauseate  the 
interest,  but  she  "strikes  the  nail  on  the  head"  every  time. 
The  problem  is  to  give  her  plenty  of  time  to  work  in  and 
when  she  calls  the  children  out  for  at  least  two  recesses  in  a 
morning  not  to  hold  them  back. 

Instinct,  however,  is  not  the  only  factor  to  be  considered. 
Environment  is  equally  important.  For  instinct  often 
remains  dormant  unless  the  incentive  furnished  by  the 
environment  and  necessary  to  the  development  of  the 
instinct  is  present.  The  teacher  need  not  force  nature,  but 
she  may  cooperate  with  her  by  furnishing  incentive  to  varied 
play.  Environment  given,  instinct  becomes  a  selective 
agent. 


PLAY  31 

The  teachers  in  the  Santa  Barbara  kindergartens  are 
interested  in  the  problem  of  incentives.  The  sand-pile, 
common  to  all  kindergartens,  is  a  stimulus  to  an  infinite 
variety  of  play.  The  introduction  of  some  simple  reins  of  red 
tape  with  bells  has  spread  the  enthusiasm  for  horse  like 
wild-fire.  Rubber  balls  were  furnished  freely,  and  were  the 
germs  of  a  chronic  and  incurable  disease  of  ball-playing. 
Dolls  were  made  accessible  at  recess-time,  and  through  them 
a  number  of  children  found  their  element.  A  box  of  toys  has 
lately  been  placed  in  the  yard  of  one  of  the  kindergartens,  and 
a  general  rush  is  made  for  this  at  every  recess.  The  train,  the 
toy  elephant,  the  card-board  soldiers,  and  the  wash-board  are 
most  eagerly  sought  after.  The  simple  toys,  however,  the 
balls  and  the  reins,  seem  to  give  greater  and  more  universal 
pleasure  and  more  varied  incentive  than  the  more  elaborate 
toys,  which  seem  to  have  something  of  a  stultifying  effect  in 
their  stereotyped  scope  and  limited  adaptibility. 

But  more  incentives  still  are  needed,  more  swings,  more 
ropes.  The  sliding  down  banisters  and  the  climbing  of  fences 
suggest  the  furnishing  of  more  comfortable  sliding  boards 
and  trees  or  poles  to  climb.  The  propensity  to  dig  with  the 
hands  and  feet  demands  a  supply  of  gardening  tools.  A  see- 
saw made  of  an  old  board  found  by  accident  pitifully  cries 
out  with  Oliver  Twist  for  "more."  The  experiment  ot 
providing  a  goodly  number  of  incentives  would  result  in  a 
valuable  "natural  selection"  that  would  give  a  basis  for 
future  guidance. 

REPRESENTATIVE  PLAYS 

There  are  three  groups  of  representative  plays.  The 
following  is  a  grouped  list  of  those  played  by  the  children 
here,  classified  as,  Being  an  Animal,  Making  Things,  and 
Representation  of  Adult  Occupations. 

1 .  Being  an  animal. — Based  on  the  imitative  instinct :  horse, 
fishes,  bear,  frogs,  cow,  wild  turkey,  fox,  rattlesnake. 

2.  Making  things. — Based  on  the  constructive  instinct: 
bridges   with    boards,    flag-poles,    windmills,    block-houses, 
houses  in  the  sand,  also  in  the  sand  fences,  boats,  reservoirs, 
gardens,  pies,  cakes,  bread,  tomales,  wells,  trenches,  tunnels, 


32  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

dolls,  beds,  car  tracks,  mountains,  fields  with  fences,  barns 
for  the  wagons,  car-yards,  fire-engine  houses. 

3.  Representation  of  adult  occupations. — Based  on  the 
dramatic  instinct:  blacksmith,  train,  band,  horse-show, 
merry-go-round,  farmer,  Santa  Claus,  baker  shop,  bakery 
wagon,  dairyman,  planting  garden,  orchard,  mother,  sisters, 
doll  with  variations  (holding,  rocking,  dressing,  kissing, 
talking  to,  taking  to  ride,  taking  for  a  walk,  putting  to 
bed,  dosing  with  medicine,  feeding  with  grass  or  lunch), 
washing  dishes,  washing  clothes,  ironing,  sweeping,  party 
with  dishes,  burial,  kindergarten,  school,  Christmas  tree, 
loading  wagons,  hauling  and  dumping,  driving  horse, 
lassooing  horses,  peddler,  pantry  with  sand  for  food,  hunting 
wild  game,  punishment,  tomale  man,  bus,  rainstorm  with 
sand  for  rain. 

The  simplest  representative  plays  are  those  of  the  imitation 
of  some  animal.  As  a  horse  the  child  runs  and  prances  about, 
as  a  fish  he  swims  in  the  sand,  as  a  bear  he  runs  and  growls,  as 
a  wild  turkey  he  flaps  his  arms,  as  a  fox  he  hides  in  his  hole, 
as  a  rattlesnake  he  writhes  his  body.  These  plays  require 
little  expansion  of  the  imagination,  but  seem  to  be  more  or 
less  directly  imitative,  and  are  entered  into  largely  by  the 
younger  children.  The  animal  is  "played"  as  an  isolated 
animal,  with  one  or  two  prominent  features,  characteristic 
action  first  and  characteristic  sound  somewhat  secondary, 
and  without  consideration  of  its  relations  to  wild  or  domestic 
life. 

A  second  class  of  representative  plays,  requiring  more 
imagination,  includes  those  which  are  based  on  the  con- 
structive instinct.  Here  the  sand-pile  is  the  arena  supreme. 
The  sand-pile  when  it  is  thickly  peopled  does  not  give  room 
for  much  bodily  action,  and  hand  and  imagination  make  the 
most  of  the  limited  individual  space.  The  children  build 
houses  galore  in  the  sand ;  they  build  fences,  reservoirs,  gar- 
dens; they  pile  up  mountains;  they  dig  wells,  tunnels,  and 
trenches;  they  erect  flag-poles;  they  concoct  pies,  cakes, 
tomales. 

Lastly  comes  the  more  complex  dramatic  plays,  which  are 
chiefly  representations  of  adult  occupations:  blacksmith, 


PLAY  33 

farmer,  Santa  Claus,  baker  wagon*  school,  consisting  chiefly 
of  whipping  the  children  or  having  recess,  housekeeping  with 
variations,  horse  with  many  variations,  and  so  on.  This 
tendency  to  imitate  adult  activities  is  brought  out  in  a  chart 
based  on  the  1200  or  more  cases  in  E.  H.  Russell's  book  on 
Imitation.  The  per  cent  of  adult  imitation  in  these  cases 
ranged  from  nearly  80  to  95  per  cent.1 

About  thirty-five  different  dramatic  plays  were  observed. 
Of  these  certain  games  seem  to  be  "chronic."  The  children 
play  horse  in  some  form  every  day.  Certain  plays  have 
"runs,"  that  is,  they  appear  for  a  number  of  successive  days, 
as  baker  wagon,  washwoman,  etc.  These  two  plays  appeared 
regularly  every  day  for  three  weeks  and  with  an  increasing 
number  of  adherents.  Dolls  are  played  persistently,  but 
chiefly  by  a  certain  few  devotees. 

In  calling  these  plays  dramatic,  too  much  must  not  be 
implied.  I  call  them  dramatic  in  distinction  to  the  other 
clashes  of  more  direct  imitation  of  animals  and  construction 
of  things.  With  children  of  this  age  these  are  only  dramatic 
beginnings.  There  is  some  appreciation  of  relationships,  an 
advance  over  the  mere  imitation  of  a  single  feature,  but  even 
these  plays  are  very  fragmentary.  Housekeeping,  for  ex- 
ample, is  not  complex — perhapsj  it  consists  at  one  time 
merely  of  sweeping,  at  another  of  washing.  Baker  shop 
means  one  child  with  a  row  of  sand-cakes.  "Horse"  consists 
of  some  red-tape  reins,  a  horse  or  horses,  a  driver,  and  some 
indefinite  running  about.  These  dramatic  games  are  played 
by  individuals  alone  or  chiefly  in  twos  and  threes,  rarely  in 
large  groups.  They  are  entirely  unorganized.  What 
cooperation  there  is,  is  merely  elementary.  The  action 
involved  seems  to  please  rather  more  than  the  idea;  in  fact, 
the  idea  seems  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing  a  motif 
for  the  action,  so  that  these  plays  are  largely  connected  with 
the  plays  of  physical  action.  They  cannot  be  differentiated 
too  strictly.  They  are  a  transition  from  the  purely  physical 
play  and  they  are  the  germs  of  the  later  fever  for  more 
elaborate  representation.  Luther  Gulick  gives  the  age  of 

1  Caroline  Frear:  "Imitation,  a  study  based  on  E.  H.  Russell's  Child  Observa- 
tions," Fed.  Sem.,  April,  1897. 


34  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

seven  to  twelve  as  the  time  of  such  more  elaborate  dramatic 
play.2 

The  representative  plays  of  this  age,  then,  may  be  charac- 
terized by  their  fragmentary  nature,  that  is,  their  selection  of 
a  few  features;  their  simplicity,  as  shown  in  the  relations  of 
those  playing;  and  their  emphasis  of  the  element  of  action. 

Earl  Barnes,  in  his  study  of  children's  drawings,  notes  that 
little  children  represent  what  they  want  to  draw  by  a  dis- 
torted prominence  of  isolated  factors.3  Children  do  not 
think  in  wholes  nor  in  logical  sequences.  These  facts  give  no 
justification  for  the  complex  relationships  of  some  of  the 
games  of  the  kindergarten. 

A  very  crude  imagination  is  involved  in  these  representa- 
tive plays,  yet  at  this  age  imagination  is  evidently  in  a 
nascent  state,  for  it  requires  so  little  incentive  to  set  it 
effervescing.  A  dust  pan,  a  board,  a  box  cover  are  trans- 
formed by  the  mind's  magic  into  wagons.  Pieces  of  wood, 
even  bells,  are  used  for  babies  and  are  taken  for  an  airing  in 
the  above  dust  pan.  The  soul  of  sand  is  subject  to  infinite 
transmigrations,  animating  in  turn  cakes,  pies,  sugar,  soap, 
soiled  clothes,  tomales,  or  rain.  Grass  sometimes  causes  the 
imaginary  bread  trundled  in  the  baker  wagon  to  materialize, 
and  it  further  makes  an  excellent  horse's  mane  when  tucked 
under  the  cap — at  least  so  little  Adan  thinks.  A  whip  is 
easily  made  of  a  long  weed.  Bean-bags  are  used  one  day  as 
loaves  of  bread,  the  next  day  as  pillows  or  mattresses.  A 
handkerchief  tied  over  the  head  establishes  beyond  doubt  a 
wolf.  A  string  of  black  beads  is,  on  good  infantile  authority, 
a  bunch  of  grapes.  A  card-board  soldier  answers  for  a 
wash-board  when  Johann  has  the  only  little  wash-board  the 
school  trustees  provide. 

It  may  be  noted  that  the  imitation  and  the  analogies  of 
children  of  this  age  are  of  the  simplest  kind.  Their  imitation 
is  imitation  of  what  they  have  seen.  Their  analogies  are 
analogies  of  external  features  based  on  sense  impression. 
There  is  no  particular  evidence  of  any  appetite  for  sym- 

*L.  Gulick:  "Some  Psychical  Aspects  of  Muscular  Exercise,"  Pop.  Sci.  Mo., 
Oct.  1898. 

'Earl  Barnes:   "A  Study  on  Children's  Drawings,"  Ped.  Sem.,  Vol.  2,  p.  455. 


PLAY  •  35 

holism.  The  round,  black  beads  stand  for  grapes  because 
they  are  round  and  black,  analogous  in  form  and  color.  No 
"spiritual  reality"  is  symbolized.  Susan  E.  Blow  may  ask, 
"For  what  is  a  symbol  but  a  natural  object,  action,  or  event 
which  is  analogically  related  to  some  spiritual  fact  or  process? 
And  what  is  the  symbolism  of  the  kindergarten  but  an 
endeavor  through  the  use  of  typical  facts  and  poetic  analogies 
to  stir  the  child  with  faraway  presentiments  of  his  ideal 
nature,  his  spiritual  relationships,  and  his  divine  destiny?"4 
But  there  is  certainly  nothing  in  the  analogizing  found  in 
children's  natural  play  to  sanction  the  kindergartner  in  any 
strained  attempts  to  arouse  spiritual  "adumbrations"  in  the 
child  through  the  symbolic  games  of  the  orthodox  kinder- 
garten. Rather  than  worry  about  mysterious  "presenti- 
ments," may  it  not  be  safer  to  give  the  child  what  his  healthy 
imitative,  constructive,  and  dramatic  instincts  clearly  and 
simply  demand,  again  trusting  to  Dame  Instinct  to  utilize 
her  material  to  the  best  advantage?  The  kindergarten 
circle  may  stir  presentiments  of  universal  unity,  but  in 
equal  probability  the  child  takes  it  for  what  it  is  worth  to 
him — a  toe-line  whereon,  forsooth,  he  must  march. 

TRADITIONAL  GAMES 

The  traditional  games  played  by  the  children  were: 
London  bridge,  pom-pom-pull-away,  ring  around  a  rosy,  drop 
the  handkerchief,  draw  a  bucket  of  water,  "booger"  man, 
pussy  wants  a  corner,  tag,  hide  and  seek,  blind  man's  buff, 
goosey  gander,  and  wood-tag. 

These  games,  when  perchance  they  did  occur,  were  intro- 
duced at  the  suggestion  of  one  or  two  of  the  children  and  met 
with  very  little  response  among  the  children  in  general. 

London  Bridge  was  the  most  popular,  but  this  was  re- 
corded only  six  times.  As  remarked  at  the  beginning,  the 
appearance  of  the  traditional  games  is  quite  insignificant 
compared  with  the  representative  and  physical  forms  of 
play.  This  fact  accords  with  the  observations  of  Miss 
Sisson5  and  of  Luther  Gulick6.  Gulick  places  the  traditional 

4  Susan  E.  Blow:  Symbolic  Education,  page  101. 

1  Genevra  Sisson :   Children's  Play.    Barnes'  Studies  in  Education,  V. 

•  L.  Gulick :  op.  tit. 


36  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

game  preeminently  in  the  period  from  seven  to  twelve  years. 
The  sacred  circle  of  kindergarten  paraphernalia  certainly 
does  not  seem  to  be  based  on  any  natural  penchant  of 
children  of  the  kindergarten  age  for  the  traditional  circle 
games,  for  these  seldom  appear  in  their  undirected  or  un- 
dicated  play. 

INDIVIDUAL  VERSUS  SOCIAL  PLAY 

The  kindergarten  child  is  preeminently  an  individual 
rather  than  a  social  child.  For  a  period  covering  four  weeks 
record  was  kept  with  specific  reference  to  the  question 
whether  children  played  alone  or  in  groups.  About  51  per 
cent  of  the  plays  were  by  individuals,  about  26  per  cent  were 
by  groups  of  two  or  three,  and  about  23  per  cent  were  by 
larger  groups. 

In  the  cases  observed  here,  there  are  only  a  few  competitive 
group  games,  which  have  already  been  mentioned,  such  as 
racing  or  throwing  the  ball  the  farthest.  The  number  of 
cooperative  group  games  is  equally  small.  A  simulation  of 
football  played  with  a  large  rubber  ball  had  something  of  a 
run;  once  seven  girls  built  a  large  house  together;  several 
times  single  boys  have  driven  three,  four,  eight,  or  nine 
horses  tandem;  a  certain  set  of  girls  played  tea-party  for  a 
number  of  weeks;  once  a  youthful  dairyman  and  ten  cows 
entered  into  a  mild  sort  of  cooperation.  I  have  included 
under  group  plays  the  cases  where  many  children  play  the 
same  thing  and  yet  each  individual,  or  each  two  or  three,  is 
practically  independent,  as,  for  example,  when  a  great  many 
drivers  with  one  horse  apiece  are  running  around.  This  is 
not  strictly  group  play,  and,  if  considered  apart,  would 
reduce  the  real  group  play  to  about  5  per  cent.  It  is  evident, 
then,  that  the  majority  of  the  children  play  alone  or  in  small 
groups.  The  larger  competitive  and  cooperative  groups 
appear  only  occasionally. 

Thus,  one  striking  characteristic  of  the  play  of  these 
kindergarten  children  is  the  individualistic  nature  of  it.  It  is 
unorganized,  non-competitive,  non-cooperative.  The  com- 
petitive spirit  arises  in  the  period  from  seven  to  twelve  and 
the  cooperative  spirit  in  adolescence,  according  to  Gulick. 


PLAY  37 

Again,  a  hint  may  be  taken  from  children's  play,  that  the 
organized  games  of  the  kindergarten  circle  lay  hold  upon  but 
a  very  feeble  social  instinct — an  instinct  whose  hour  comes 
later  than  the  kindergarten  period.  The  kindergarten  child 
is  an  individual  in  his  work-play  as  he  is  in  his  free  play,  and 
his  social  side  must  be  developed  through  independent, 
spontaneous  imitation,  which  is  clearly  nascent  at  this 
period,  rather  than  through  forced  factorship  in  an  organized 
social  whole. 

To  sum  up,  this  study  would  indicate  that  the  play  of 
kindergarten  children,  is  characterized  by:  (i)  activity — 
persistent,  varied,  moderate  rather  than  intense,  involving 
neither  force  nor  skill,  fairly  complete  in  the  muscular 
exercise  afforded,  and  concerned  entirely  with  the  use  of  the 
fundamental  rather  than  with  the  accessory  movements; 
(2)  nascent  imagination,  using  idea  chiefly  as  an  excuse  for 
action  rather  than  action  as  a  mere  means  of  carrying  out 
idea,  and  dealing  with  physical  images  based  upon  sense 
impressions  which  offer  no  basis  for  spiritual  symbolism; 
and,  (3)  its  individualistic  nature  as  contrasted  with  the 
social  nature  of  later  organized,  competitive,  and  cooperative 
play. 

CAROLINE  FREAR  BURK 

Since  the  above  was  written,  the  generosity  of  friends  of 
the  kindergarten  has  made  the  addition  of  a  number  of 
longed-for  play-incentives  possible.  Ground  has  been  dug  in 
all  the  kindergarten  yards,  and  seeds  and  shrubs  have  been 
planted,  in  part  by  the  children.  There  are  small,  but  not 
merely  "play,"  rakes,  shovels,  hoes,  watering-cans,  etc.,  which 
the  children  use  in  the  care  of  the  gardens.  They  are 
delighted  at  the  horticultural  prospect  before  them,  and  some 
beg  to  come  in  the  afternoon  in  order  to  have  more  time  to 
spend  in  gardening.  Some  of  the  plants  are  intended  to  be 
ornamental  and  to  beautify  the  surroundings,  while  others 

8  According  to  a  charting  of  E.  H.  Russell's  cases  of  imitation  (Caroline  Frear. 
op.  cit.)  the  tendency  to  play  alone  is  exceeded  by  the  tendency  to  play  with  other 
children  at  about  the  age  of  five  years — the  middle  of  the  kindergarten  period. 

The  cases  of  playing  in  large  groups  appear  as  belonging  especially  to  the  adoles- 
cent period. 


38  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

are  more  especially  for  the  children's'  observation.  For 
instance,  in  one  kindergarten,  the  children  have  planted 
popcorn  kernels,  whose  growth  they  will  watch  in  all  its 
stages  until  next  fall,  when  they  will  "pop"  the  products  of 
their  labor  in  their  own  kindergarten  stove. 

But  to  speak  of  the  more  truly  play-incentives.  Several 
of  the  kindergartens  have  a  number  of  new  swings,  which  are 
kept  in  constant  motion  during  the  recess  hours ;  several  also 
have  see-saws.  One  of  these  see-saws  is  movable — the  board 
is  movable  up  and  down  to  suit  its  height  to  children  of 
various  sizes,  and  the  whole  see-saw  is  transportable  bodily, 
so  that  it  may  be  carried  into  the  kindergarten  room  or  out 
doors.  One  kindergarten  boasts  a  sliding-board  and  a 
climbing-pole;  another  a  turn-pole  and  a  good-sized  play 
wagon,  in  which,  on  excursions  to  the  beach,  little  lame 
Maggie  rides  as  serenely  as  did  Cinderella  in  her  pumpkin 
coach. 

Two  features  in  the  Third  Ward  kindergarten  are  of  espe- 
cial interest.  One  is  the  pavilion.  This  is  a  large  platform, 
forty  by  eighteen  feet,  shaded  by  a  high  roof.  The  sides 
are  all  open.  In  the  center  is  a  large  sand  box,  twenty-one  by 
six  feet  and  two  feet  deep,  partitioned  in  the  middle.  From 
the  lengthwise  edges  project  slabs  for  modeling-tables,  which 
close  down  on  hinges  when  not  in  use.  The  children  dig  and 
build  and  play  in  the  sand  boxes,  and  the  sand  is  kept 
together  and  kept  cleaner  than  it  was  in  the  sand-pile  on  the 
ground. 

The  other  feature  is  the  dolls'  house.  An  old  shed  gave 
up  without  a  murmur  its  whole  front,  so  that,  with  its  floor, 
three  sides  and  roof,  it  furnishes  a  place  where  the  children 
may  "play  house"  and  yet  have  all  the  benefits  of  fresh  air 
and  at  the  same  time  shelter  from  the  wind  in  this  less  active 
play.  Here  the  children  have  the  two  little  rocking-chairs,  the 
tea-table,  the  dishes,  the  washboard,  the  flatiron,  the  little 
brooms  and  the  dolls,  with  the  box  used  as  their  wardrobe. 
This  shed  presents  an  exceedingly  busy  scene  at  recess  time. 
An  endless  amount  of  imaginary  tea  is  imbibed;  the  floor  is 
swept,  till,  whatever,  it  is,  it  ought  to  be  spotless;  dolls  are 
rocked  till  their  little  brains  either  must  be  perpetually 


PLAY  39 

asleep,  or  eternally  dizzy.    Never  for  a  day  does  interest  flag 
in  these  miniature  housekeeping  arrangements. 

The  pavilion  and  the  dolls'  house  mean  extra  work  and 
care  for  some  one,  and  the  kindergarten  supervisor  is 
utilizing  this  opportunity  to  develop  in  the  children  a  sense 
of  responsibility  and  care-taking.  Every  day,  after  the 
second  recess,  the  A  class  children  remain  outdoors  for 
fifteen  minutes.  The  boys  sweep  the  floor  of  the  pavilion 
that  has  been  scattered  with  sand ;  they  clean  the  gardening 
implements  in  the  dry  sand  till  they  shine  like  the  watering- 
pots;  they  gather  up  the  papers,  if  any,  drifting  about  the 
yard,  and  these  are  burned  in  a  little  bonfire.  Meanwhile 
the  girls  are  washing  and  drying  the  dishes  and  carefully 
putting  them  away  in  the  canton-flannel-lined  box;  they  see 
that  the  dolls  are  left  clothed  and  in  their  right  minds; 
they  shake  the  remaining  garments,  fold  them  and  lay  them 
in  the  box.  Thus  everything  is  left  neat  and  orderly  for  the 
next  day's  play.  The  children  enter  with  a  will  into  this 
care-taking  process,  and  moral  and  muscular  exercise  go 
merrily  along  hand  in  hand. 

C.  F.  B. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  LANGUAGE 

The  kindergarten  covers  the  critical  period  of  the  ripening 
of  the  speech  centers  when  the  child  most  readily  and  rapidly 
acquires  vocabulary.  Of  this  we  are  certain  beyond  question. 
The  child  from  two  to  six  years  learns  a  new  language  with  a 
rapidity  which  utterly  puts  to  shame  the  ability  of  an  adult. 
The  general  educational  principle  requiring  us  to  use  an 
instinct  in  its  period  of  nascency  bids  us,  therefore,  to  put 
into  the  kindergarten  the  best  incentives  possible  to  excite 
into  activity  those  nerve  centers  concerned  in  the  function  of 
oral  expression.  We  do  not  as  yet  have  a  complete  list  of  these 
incentives,  but  a  few  are  submitted  which  practical  experi- 
ence assures  us  are  serviceable : 

i.  STORYTELLING.  But  what  stories?  Some  may  be 
better  adapted  than  others  to  excite  the  language  centers. 
Child-psychology  and  practical  experience  are  certainly 
ready  to  give  an  unequivocal  answer  to  this  question. 
"Mother  Goose,"  folk-lore,  myths,  fables  and  fairy  stories — 
the  stories  upon  which  the  race  in  its  childhood  has  mentally 
fattened,  and  which  for  racial  ages,  by  the  campfire,  in  the 
cave,  in  the  wigwam,  and  at  the  mother's  knee,  whether  in 
palace  or  cottage,  the  human  child  has  ever  loved  to  hear  and 
repeat.  From  the  standpoint  of  practical  experience,  the 
conclusion  is  firm  that  for  the  purpose  of  exercising  the  child 
in  language  there  is  nothing  in  power  equal  to  these  stories 
of  free  imagination — these  glimpses  of  a  ,world  as  yet  un- 
bridled by  cause  and  effect,  when  man,  brute,  plant,  and 
natural  force  gather  on  the  greensward  of  caprice  to  sport  and 
play  with  one  another  without  dream  of  quarreling.  From 
the  standpoint  of  educational  theory,  the  explanation  comes 
with  equal  force  that  in  repeating  these  stories,  the  child's 
interest  follows  the  path  of  the  race,  that  the  brain  centers 
which  represent  the  older  racial  structures  mature  earlier 
than  those  which  modern  civilization  has  added,  that  the 
former  constitute  the  trunk  from  which  more  modern 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  LANGUAGE  4! 

tendencies  bud  and  branch  in  the  later  adolescent  period, 
and  that  these  stories,  moreover,  are  the  product  of  a  natural 
selection  where  the  forces  of  human  interest  have  been  at 
work  for  centuries,  pruning  here  and  growing  there,  till  what 
we  have  in  these  stories  is  the  concentrated  essence  of  what 
has  by  experience  proved  best  to  excite  the  language  expres- 
sion in  childhood. 

"But  these  stories  are  not  spiritual;  they  are  upon  the 
physical  plane — the  grossly  physical,"  the  orthodox  kinder- 
garten exclaims  in  horror.  But  the  orthodox  kindergarten  is 
merely  echoing  that  old  cry  of  mediaeval  flaggellation  when 
men  mortified  the  flesh  as  evil  in  order  to  develop  the  spirit, 
and  insisted  upon  the  existence  of  an  impassable  chasm 
between  the  two.  Froebel  lived  in  the  sunlight  of  this 
medievalism,  and  later  study  of  him  has  reflected  into  the 
modern  kindergarten  some  of  these  dying  rays.  The 
orthodox  kindergarten  has  attempted  to  shelve  Grimm, 
Anderson,  Homer  and  Aesop,  as  tempters  of  the  flesh,  and 
has  sought  to  substitute  a  repertoire  of  "spiritual"  gems,  each 
with  its  little  grafted  moral  and  aesthetic  sentiment.  The 
ethical  and  aesthetic  sentiments  contained  in  these  "gems" 
generally  belong  more  properly  to  the  adolescent  period,  not 
to  childhood.  There  is  a  time  for  modern  ethics,  and  there  is 
a  time  for  primative  ethics,  and  to  force  the  former  upon 
children  from  four  to  six  is  an  educational  abortion,  so  far 
as  moral  education  is  concerned.  At  the  same  time  a  story 
without  interest  nullifies  itself  as  a  language  incentive.  For 
the  purpose  of  language  excitation — we  will  pass  morals  and 
aesthetics  for  the  present — these  artificial  products  cannot 
take  the  place  of  the  old  masters  in  the  story-telling  art, 
whom  nature  by  centuries  of  work  of  selection  has  educated. 
There  has,  indeed,  been  a  very  hazy  realization,  in  the 
kindergarten,  of  the  place  of  the  story  as  a  means  of  language 
development.  It  has  been  regarded  chiefly  from  the  stand- 
point of  morals  and  aesthetic  sentiment,  and  from  a  stand- 
point in  these  which  modern  investigation  condemns  as 
untenable. 

Second,  the  method  of  story- telling  in  the  kindergarten 
needs  overhauling  to  secure  the  freest  environment  for  its 


42  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

expression.  The  circle  as  the  place  of  telling  the  story  intro- 
duces the  needless  factors  of  bashfulness  and  nervousness. 
The  small  group  at  the  kindergartner's  knee  is  a  more 
suitable  arrangement  of  story-teller  and  audience. 

2.  DRAMATIC  REPRESENTATION  OF  STORIES.  A  second 
instinct  which  may  be  used  as  an  incentive  for  language 
expression,  and  which  shows  itself  in  a  very  active  form 
during  the  kindergarten  years,  is  that  of  dramatic  representa- 
tion of  stories.  An  essential  condition  for  story-telling  is  that 
the  child  shall  have,  in  the  form  of  clear  images  in  his  mind, 
something  to  tell.  The  language  structures  of  the  brain, 
neurology  and  psychiatry  are  demonstrating  to  us,  are 
superimposed  upon  the  more  fundamental  motor  structures. 
To  do  a  thing  establishes  motor  structures  from  which  the 
language  centers  are  largely  built.  Action  is  an  older  form  of 
language  then  speech,  and  pantomime  was  nature's  first 
differentiation  in  the  form  of  language.  The  infant  compre- 
hends and  uses  action  and  pantomime  before  he  comprehends 
and  uses  speech.  The  representative  games  begin,  it  has  been 
shown,  from  three  to  six  years.  The  child  in  crude  imitation 
is  ever  representing  dramatically  all  that  he  sees  or  hears — 
playing  horse,  circus,  school,  policeman,  etc.  As  a  rule, 
indeed,  children  of  kindergarten  age  use  few  of  the  traditional 
games,  upon  the  principle  of  which  so  many  of  the  orthodox 
kindergarten  games  are  modeled.  This  class  of  play  comes 
at  a  later  period.  The  language  curriculum,  upon  this  sug- 
gestion of  instinct,  may  profitably  allow  stories  to  be  acted 
out  before  the  child  tells  the  story  orally.  But,  we  are  told, 
this  is  just  what  the  kindergarten  has  always  done — sym- 
bolism is  its  corner-stone.  We  must  insist  in  reply  that  there 
is  an  essential  distinction  between  the  simple  imitation  of 
some  act  which  the  child  has  witnessed  actually,  and  the 
abstract  symbolism  which  the  Hegelianized  kindergartens 
have  attempted  to  force  into  the  curriculum.  It  is  one  thing 
for  a  child  to  imitate  washing  dishes — an  act  which  has 
already  been  impressed  into  her  nervous  system  by  the 
senses — by  scrubbing  with  imaginary  water,  wiping  with  an 
imaginary  cloth,  hanging  them  upon  imaginary  pegs  in  an 
imaginary  closet,  but  it  is  an  altogether  different  thing  to 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  LANGUAGE  43 

leap  from  a  circular  chalk  line  to  the  "premonition"  of 
spiritual  nature.  Symbolism  calls  for  a  class  of  nerve 
structures  whose  ripening  time  is  in  adolescence.  Imitation 
of  objects  sensed  is  an  activity  of  early  childhood.  Second, 
the  child,  to  be  excited  to  dramatize,  must  have  as  material 
a  story  which  appeals  to  him.  The  folk-lore  story  is  a 
necessary  condition.  A  third  condition  is  that  the  dramati- 
zation must  be  free  and  spontaneous.  Froebel  insisted  upon 
this,  but  many  of  his  modern  disciples  teach  dramatization 
with  the  same  cut-and-dried  precision  to  rule  that  Hamlet 
used  in  his  instructions  to  the  players.  The  "dictation" 
method  has  arisen  as  a  necessity  of  the  attempt  to  have  acted 
that  which  is  beyond  the  child's  powers  of  comprehension. 
The  fact  that  many  kindergartners  feel  themselves  obliged 
to  show  the  children  how  to  play  arises  in  many  cases  from  the 
fact  that  the  story  employed  is  symbolic,  and  so  far  beyond 
the  sense-limits,  that  they  have  no  images  to  represent.  I 
venture  the  assertion  that  stories  of  the  plane  of  "Mother 
Goose,"  or,  a  little  later,  of  the  "Three  Bears,"  will  offer  no 
such  difficulty. 

3.  ILLUSTRATIVE  DRAWINGS.  A  third  instinct,  useful  as 
an  incentive  to  language  development,  is  one  which,  so  far  as 
I  am  aware,  has  never  been  utilized  in  the  kindergarten  in  a 
measure  adequate  to  its  importance,  except  in  a  few  sporadic 
instances.  It  is  the  child's  instinct  for  "picture  writing"  as 
a  means  of  language  expression.  Education  has  been,  and 
is,  burdened  by  a  hapless  confusion  between  drawing  as  an 
art,  and  drawing  in  a  more  primitive  stage  of  its  evolution, 
found  alike  in  the  child  and  in  primitive  man — drawing 
merely  as  a  way  of  telling  something.  It  is  a  form  of  language 
which  precedes  writing  in  the  child  as  well  as  in  the  race. 
Our  primary  schools,  and  to  some  extent,  our  kindergartens, 
have  been  surfeited  by  drawing  conceived  as  an  art,  or  as  a 
mathematical  drill  which  we  find  in  the  use  of  types.  But 
the  studies  of  children's  drawings  certainly  show  beyond 
question  that  the  drawing  of  children  of  the  kindergarten 
age  does  not  belong  to  art  at  all,  but  to  language.  The 
kindergarten  child  is  wofully  in  lack  of  any  evidences  of 
aesthetic  instinct,  if  we  define  "aesthetic"  in  the  sense  of  the 


44  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

adult  use.  Intensely  interesting,  suggestive  and  helpful  has 
been  the  experiment  of  allowing  the  child  to  go  to  the  black- 
board to  illustrate  by  means  of  his  crude  "picture  writing" 
some  story  of  which  he  is  fond.  Once  the  child  has  drawn  the 
story,  and  thereby  built  it  into  the  motor  nerve  areas 
governing  the  hand,  he  tells  it  by  means  of  the  speech  centers 
with  a  very  visible  addition  of  power  and  clearness.  The 
motor  mechanisms  have  laid  a  foundation  upon  which  the 
speech  centers  build.  The  psychological  order  of  the 
instruction  in  language,  by  means  of  the  story,  clearly  is: 
first,  dramatic  representation;  second,  drawing;  third, 
speech.  Success,  again,  is  conditioned  by  the  character  of 
the  story.  The  story  first  must  be  within  the  child's  mental 
horizon  in  order  to  excite  him  with  a  desire  to  express  it  in 
drawing. 

,      BIBLIOGRAPHY   OF  DRAWING 

1.  BALDWIN,  J.  MARK.    Mental  Development  in  the  Child  and  the  Race. 

New  York,  1896. 

2.  BARNES,  EARL.    "A  Study   on   Children's   Drawings."     Pedagogical 

Seminary,  December,  1893. 

3.  BARNES,  EARL.    "Notes  on  Drawing."   Studies  in  Education. 

4.  BOGARDUS,  FRANK  S.     An  Individual  Study  of  Drawings  Made  by 

First-Grade  Pupils.     Transactions  of   Illinois  Society  for  Child 
Study,  1896. 

5.  BOWDITCH,  H.   P.     "Notes  on  Children's  Drawings."     Pedagogical 

Seminary  i  1891. 

6.  BROWN,  ELMER  E.    Notes  on  Children's  Drawings.    Berkeley,  1896. 

7.  CLARK,  ARTHUR  B.    "The  Child's  Attitude  toward  Perspective  Prob- 

lem."   Studies  in  Education. 

8.  COOKE,  E.    "Art  Teaching  and  Child  Nature."    Journal  of  Education 

(London),  December,  1885,  and  January,  1886. 

9.  HALL,  G.  STANLEY.     "Contents  of  Children's  Minds  on  Entering 

School."    Pedagogical  Seminary,  June,  1891. 

10.  HERRICK,  MARY  A.    "Children's  Drawings."    Pedagogical  Seminary, 

October,  1895. 

11.  HICKS,  MARY  DANA.    "Art  in  Early  Education."   Kindergarten  Maga- 

zine, A'pril,  1894. 

12.  LUKENS,  HERMAN  T.    "A  Study  of  Children's  Drawings  in  the  Early 

Years."    Pedagogical  Seminary,  October,  1896. 

13.  MAITLAND,  LOUISE.     "Children's  Drawings."     Pacific  Educational 

Journal,  September,  1895. 

14.  O'SHEA,  M.  V.    "Children's  Expression  Through  Drawing.    N.E.A, 

Proceedings,    1894. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  LANGUAGE  45 

15.  SCRIPTURE,  E.  W.,  and  LYMAN,  C.  S.    Drawing  a  Straight  Line.   Stud- 

ies from  the  Yale  Psychological  Laboratory,  1893. 

16.  SHINN,  MILLICENT  W.    Notes  on  the  Development  of  a  Child.    Berkeley, 

1893- 

17.  SULLY,  JAMES.  Studies  in  Childhood.    New  York,  1896. 

18.  RICCI,  CORRADO.     "Art  of  Little  Children."    Translated  by  Louise 

Maitland.    Pedagogical  Seminary,  Vol.  Ill:  202. 

19.  MAITLAND,  LOUISE.     "What  Children  Draw  to  Please  Themselves." 

Inland  Educator,    1896. 

20.  PASSY,  JACQUES.     "Note  sur  les  Dessins  d'Enfants."    Revue  Philo- 

sophique,  December,  1891. 

FREDERIC  BURK 

I 

In  taking  up  the  story-work  in  our  kindergarten  this  year, 
we  decided  to  try  with  the  entering  class  of  children  from  four 
to  five  years  old,  the  favorite  rhymes  of  "Mother  Goose." 
We  took  up  at  first  the  briefest  ones,  such  as : 

"Rub-a-dub,  dub, 
Three  men  in  a  tub." 
Or: 

"Jack,  be  nimble; 
Jack,  be  quick; 
Jack,  jump  over  the  candle-stick." 

Oftentimes  we  acted  them  out  before  asking  the  children 
to  illustrate.  For  instance,  the  morning  I  told  them  the 
rhyme  of  "Jack,  be  nimble,"  I  had  a  candle-stick  and  candle, 
which  we  put  on  the  floor;  then  we  suited  the  action  to  the 
words,  each  child  who  wished  going  through  the  jumping. 
"See-saw,  Margery  Daw,"  was  given  the  first  time  with  little 
success  for  lack  of  illustration,  but  again  I  tried  it,  erecting 
a  miniature  see-saw  in  the  sand-box,  with  small  dolls  on 
either  end,  and,  when  given  the  charcoal  and  paper,  the 
results  were  astonishing;  each  child  had  now  a  visual  picture 
to  draw  from.  The  first  verse  of  "Jack  and  Jill"  was  success- 
fully illustrated  in  the  sand-box,  with  a  hill  of  sand,  dolls, 
little  tin  bucket,  a  well  at  the  top  of  the  hill,  with  well-frame 
of  sticks  and  string  to  pull  up  the  bucket. 

"Ding-dong  bell, 
Pussy's  in  the  well," 


46  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

was  enjoyed  with  the  above  well,  and  a  picture  cat  to  let 
down  and  pull  out. 

I  cannot  say  that  all  the  results  are  encouraging — far  from 
it  sometimes.  Nevertheless,  on  the  child's  part  the  illustra- 
tion is  always  an  expression  of  an  idea.  From  the  second 
illustration  of  the  see-saw  rhyme,  out  of  twenty-three  papers 
there  were  only  eight  which  would  not  be  recognized ;  two  of 
that  number  were  from  foreigners  who  did  not  understand 
English. 

We  have  our  story  the  first  hour  in  the  morning,  illustra- 
ting immediately,  either  with  pencil,  chalk,  brush  and 
paints,  or  charcoal.  Of  course,  the  children  are  not  confined 
merely  to  this  illustrative  work,  for  they  have  every  day 
numerous  opportunities  of  drawing  anything  they  wish. 
But  at  the  hour  set  aside  for  the  illustration  of  the  story,  they 
are  all  expected  to  try  to  draw  some  pictures  about  it.  Many 
children  need  a  great  deal  of  appreciation  and  encouragement 
on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  often  hanging  back  and  saying,  "I 
can't  draw."  Oftentimes  when  they  say,  for  instance,  in  the 
illustration  of  "Hey-diddle,  diddle,"  "That's  the  cow  that 
jumped  over  the  moon,"  it  seems  far  more  possible  that  it  is  a 
snake  or  a  cat. 

From  the  simpler  rhymes  we  proceeded  to  the  longer  ones, 
as  "Little  Jack  Horner,"  "Ding-dong  Bell,"  "Jack  and  Jill," 
"Little  Miss  Muffett,"  "Mary  Had  a  Little  Lamb,"  "Little 
Boy  Blue,"  and  various  clear  verses  of  Mother  Hubbard's 
dog.  To  one  who  does  not  fully  realize  the  stage  in  ability  of 
children  at  this  age  to  draw  and  express  a  certain  idea,  the 
drawings  would  seem  very  crude  and  the  educational  value 
but  small.  But  to  the  person  who  does  understand,  and  who 
watches  the  power  to  express  with  the  hand  what  has  been 
absorbed  through  the  eyes  and  ears,  the  development  seems 
wonderfully  and  intensely  interesting  in  all  its  details.  The 
greatest  value  of  this  work  seems  to  me  to  be  the  self- 
expression  on  the  part  of  each  child.  He  is  not  doing  it  in  the 
teacher's  way,  but  it  is  his  own  creative  work.  The  value  of 
using  these  simple  rhymes  is  that  the  youngest  children  be- 
come alive  with  interest,  and  anxious  to  tell  them  back  to  me 
with  the  pictures — but  not  in  language.  They  do  not  seem 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  LANGUAGE  47 

to  have  the  power  or  vocabulary  to  tell  the  story  that  has 
been  told  them,  but  by  means  of  their  own  pictures,  the 
impression  is  made  which  in  the  second  year  will  reappear  in 
language  expression.  I  found  that  the  children  on  entering 
had  not  an  interest  in  long,  verbose  chronicles  of  children's 
doings — as  I  tested  by  sprinkling  in  an  occasional  one.  Of 
course  they  often  will  sit  and  listen  with  apparent  interest, 
but  how  much  better  does  it  seem  to  give  them  something 
tangible  for  re-telling  by  means  of  pictures  or  words. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  what  especial  object  they  will 
choose  to  draw,  as  in : 

"Hey,  diddle,  diddle, 
The  cat  and  the  fiddle, 
The  cow  jumped  over  the  moon." 

Some  choose  "the  cat  and  the  fiddle";  some,  "the  little  dog 
laughing,"  or,  "the  dish  running  away  with  the  spoon,"  and 
others  just  the  cow  or  moon  alone.  They  were  always  allowed 
all  liberty  in  choosing  the  part  they  wished  to  illustrate. 
From  the  "Mother  Goose"  rhymes  I  took  up  the  simplest  of 
the  ALsop  fables,  and  those  which  seemed  particularly 
attractive  through  the  personification  of  the  animals  and 
their  conversation.  The  appreciation  of  this  type  of  story 
was  clearly  shown,  also,  in  the  "Story  of  the  Three  Bears," 
which  I  had  told  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  term.  At  that 
time  they  seemed  not  to  grasp  its  full  meaning,  but  when 
tried  again  after  the  "Mother  Goose"  rhymes,  it  met  with 
great  enthusiasm.  The  illustrations  revealed  a  vivid  picture 
of  the  mush-bowls,  chairs  and  beds. 

The  fables  which  the  children  seemed  to  enjoy  the  most 
were  the  "Ant  and  the  Dove,"  "The  Goat  and  the  Mirror," 
and  "The  Fox  in  the  Well." 

GAIL  HARRISON 

II 

After  the  first  fifteen  minutes,  which  the  children  spend  all 
together  in  the  main  room,  I  take  my  class  into  my  room,  and 
we  have  the  story  and  its  illustration.  The  class  has  been 
generally  about  twenty  in  number,  and  represents  the  second 


48 

year  in  the  kindergarten,  the  children  being  from  five  to  six 
years  old.  To  me  this  hour  is  the  most  enjoyable  one  of  the 
morning,  for,  by  means  of  the  story,  I  think  the  teacher  and 
children  are  drawn  closer  together.  Before  telling  my  story, 
I  always  try  to  draw  the  children  out  by  asking  for  a  story 
from  them,  and  there  is  never  a  morning  that  some  one  has 
not  something  to  tell.  It  may  be  about  something  they  have 
seen  or  done  the  day  before,  or  often  it  is  the  story  that  a 
brother,  sister,  or  mother  has  told  them.  The  children  seem 
to  feel  a  freedom  at  this  time,  and  the  diffident  children  can 
be  drawn  out,  for  I  have  discovered  that  when  a  child  is 
really  interested,  and  has  something  to  tell,  he  becomes 
unconscious  of  self.  One  little  girl  that  has  been  in  my  class 
for  nearly  a  year,  quite  a  diffident  child  in  talking,  has 
volunteered  to  tell  three  stories  lately  that  she  has  heard  at 
home,  and  she  told  them  with  so  much  enthusiasm  that  the 
children  listened  intently.  I  think  we  do  not  realize  how 
much  confidence  it  takes  for  a  little  child  that  is  inclined  to  be 
diffident  to  tell  a  story  to  others.  Several  times,  when  a  child 
has  been  absent  the  day  before,  I  have  asked  some  one  to  tell 
him  the  story  of  the  previous  day.  Sometimes  I  ask  one  to 
begin  the  story,  and  let  some  one  else  finish  it.  During  this 
story  time  there  is  an  excellent  opportunity  of  teaching  a 
little  lesson  in  self-control,  for,  as  we  all  know,  it  is  natural 
for  the  children  all  to  want  to  talk  at  the  same  time,  and  I  am 
particular  to  let  only  one  speak  at  a  time.  After  giving  the 
children  an  opportunity  of  talking,  I  tell  my  story,  and  the 
eagerness  with  which  they  listen  and  enter  into  it  is  certainly 
gratifying.  To  see  the  changes  of  expression  in  the  faces  as 
the  story  progresses  is  inspiring,  and  one  cannot  help  but 
enter  into  it  oneself. 

I  am  convinced  that  the  story  must  not  be  too  long  or  too 
complex,  for  little  children  cannot  take  in  too  much  detail. 
In  selecting  a  story,  I  try  to  find  a  simple  one,  and  yet  one 
that  has  life  in  it. 

I  tried  the  "Mother  Goose"  rhymes  with  my  children,  but 
did  not  consider  them  a  success,  for  many  of  the  children 
knew  them  already,  and  they  seemed  to  desire  something 
with  more  story  to  it.  One  morning,  after  repeating  one  of 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  LANGUAGE  49 

the  rhymes,  Winfield  said:  "But,  Miss  Diehl,  aren't  you 
going  to  tell  us  a  story?"  To  him  this  did  not  take  the  place 
of  the  story. 

The  illustrating  of  the  story,  which  always  follows,  is 
especially  interesting.  In  the  illustrating,  of  course,  we  do 
not  look  for  artistic  effect,  for  the  child  simply  tells  the  story 
in  a  crude  way  with  the  chalk,  pencil,  charcoal,  or  brush.  As 
a  rule,  I  have  my  children  draw  on  the  board,  for  there  they 
have  greater  freedom  of  movement,  and  they  draw  on  a 
larger  scale.  I  have  them  draw  with  the  broad  side  of  the 
chalk,  and  find  it  very  successful,  for  effective  lines  can  be 
made  without  pressing  so  hard.  Sometimes  I  use  the  brush 
and  water  colors,  but  I  observe  that  they  do  not  go  into 
detail  so  much ;  however,  I  think  the  brush  is  very  good  for 
developing  a  soft  touch.  Charcoal  I  like  very  much,  for  it  is 
soft,  and  easy  to  mark  with,  and  the  children  do  not  clutch  it 
so  tightly  as  they  do  the  lead  pencil.  They  are  always  fond 
of  the  pencil,  and  some  ask  for  it,  but  I  think  unless  they  can 
have  a  good,  soft  one,  they  would  better  use  something  else. 
I  never  give  instructions  in  the  drawing,  for  I  want  to  see  how 
much  of  the  story  the  child  has  grasped.  Sometimes  I 
suggest,  and  occasionally  in  telling  the  story  I  will  step  to  the 
board  and  illustrate  parts  as  I  tell  it.  The  children  always 
enjoy  this,  and  always  say:  "Oh,  don't  rub  it  out,  let  us  look 
at  it  when  we  draw."  It  is  surprising  how  well  they  imitate 
in  drawing.  I  have  had  them  imitate  my  crude  drawing 
perfectly.  The  development  in  their  drawing  power  is 
marked.  The  drawings  now  are  very  different  from  the  crude 
ones  they  used  to  make  at  the  beginning  of  the  year.  They 
put  in  more  detail,  and  it  is  surprising  how  well  they  represent 
some  parts  of  the  story.  They  express  in  the  picture  what 
they  cannot  always  express  in  words,  and  yet  the  picture 
inspires  them  to  talk,  for  it  is  wonderful  how  much  they  will 
tell  about  the  objects  drawn.  Each  one  seems  to  mean  so 
much  to  the  child.  I  try  to  go  to  each  child  and  have  him 
tell  me  the  story  his  picture  tells,  and  many  children  will  tell 
me  about  the  pictures,  and  talk  quite  readily,  when  ordinarily 
they  seem  backward  in  talking.  As  I  said  before,  I  think 
when  a  child  really  has  something  to  talk  about,  he  will  talk. 


5O  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

At  first,  some  of  the  new  children  rather  hesitate  about 
drawing,  but  they  soon  get  over  this  timidity.  I  have  never 
had  a  child  refuse  to  draw  the  story. 

In  the  selection  of  stories,  I  have  tried  a  great  variety, 
fables,  myths,  fairy  stories,  etc.  Aesop's  fables  I  find  very 
successful;  the  children  tell  them  and  illustrate  them  well. 
Of  course,  I  make  a  selection  from  them,  for  some  I  am  sure 
would  not  appeal  to  children  of  this  age.  Some  of  the 
favorites  are:  "The  Ant  and  the  Dove,"  "The  Lion  and  the 
Mouse,"  "The  Hare  and  the  Tortoise,"  "The  Snake's  Eggs," 
"The  Dog  and  his  Shadow,"  "The  Cat  and  the  Birds,"  "The 
Fox  in  the  Well,"  and  "The  Goat  and  the  Mirror." 

I  have  tried  some  of  the  Uncle  Remus  stories,  and  consider 
them  a  success.  These  stories  have  been  put  into  simple 
language  for  primary,  grades  by  Miss  Woods  of  Santa 
Barbara  and  Miss  Blair  of  Santa  Rosa.  The  "Tar  Baby"  was 
a  favorite,  and  the  illustrations  were  especially  good;  the 
fox  peeking  out  from  behind  the  tree  was  very  well  pictured 
by  some.  They  enjoyed,  too,  "Bre'r  Rabbit  and  Mr.  Man's 
Little  Girl,"  "Bre'r  Rabbit  is  a  Good  Fisherman,"  and  "Bre'r 
Rabbit,  Bre'r  Fox  and  Bre'r  Buzzard,"  and  seemed  to  appre- 
ciate fully  the  humor  of  the  tricks  played.  They  enjoy 
hearing  these  stories,  and  draw  them  very  well,  but,  of 
course,  they  are  harder  for  children  to  tell,  and  they  do  not 
tell  them  as  readily  as  they  do  the  fables. 

I  find  that  they  always  like  stories  about  animals,  espe- 
cially when  the  animals  are  personified.  I  think  that  is  a 
chief  reason  the  fables  and  Uncle  Remus  stories  are  popular 
and  successful.  In  drawing  animals,  it  is  noticeable  and  very 
amusing  to  find  that  with  few  exceptions  the  children  draw 
animals  with  the  human  face.  However,  some  striking 
characteristic  of  the  animal  is  usually  evident.  If  it  is  a 
rabbit,  for  example,  the  long  ears  are  put  on,  or  if  a  fox,  the 
bushy  tail  is  there.  In  telling  the  stories  where  animals  are 
brought  in,  I  make  a  point  to  emphasize  some  characteristic 
of  the  animal,  and  I  find  the  children  usually  repeat  it  in  the 
drawing. 

I  have  tried  fairy  stories,  but  am  convinced  that  they  are 
too  long  and  complex  for  children  of  this  age,  for  there  is 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  LANGUAGE  51 

always  so  much  detail  brought  out,  and  it  is  impossible  to 
simplify  them.  Then,  too,  marriage  is  always  brought  in, 
and  little  children  do  not  appreciate  that  part.  The  "Frog 
Prince"  I  think  they  liked  very  much,  but  that  is  one  of  the 
simpler  ones.  They  drew  this  very  well,  I  thought;  the  frog 
sitting  at  the  table  and  eating  seemed  to  impress  them  as 
being  very  funny,  and  many  pictured  him  there,  or  crawling 
up  the  side  of  the  well,  with  the  gold  ball  in  his  mouth. 

Children  like  to  hear  about  mysterious  little  fairies  that 
live  in  flowers  and  do  such  wonderful  things,  and  some  sort 
of  fairy  story  might  be  good,  for  example,  the  "Pine  Tree," 
for  they  like  that,  but  I  am  quite  certain  that  the  typical 
fairy  story  does  not  appeal  to  children  of  this  age. 

Lately  I  have  tried  myths,  some  of  the  simple  ones,  as 
"The  Golden  Touch,"  "Clyde  and  Apollo,"  and  "Latona  and 
the  Two  Frogs,"  and  the  children  certainly  have  enjoyed 
them  very  much.  To-day  I  asked  some  one  to  tell  Marjorie, 
who  had  been  absent  several  days,  the  story  of  "Latona  and 
the  Two  Frogs,"  and  one  little  boy  told  it  as  perfectly  as  I 
could.  The  story  of  Clyde  was  illustrated  wonderfully  well 
by  some;  they  seemed  to  take  in  that  Apollo  was  a  god,  and 
he  was  pictured  in  his  chariot  in  the  clouds  in  a  visionary  sort 
of  a  way.  Winfield  pictured  Apollo  in  the  clouds  as  the 
round  sun,  with  rays,  and  a  smiling  face  within.  This  is  so 
characteristic  of  Winfield,  for  his  faces  are  typical  of  his  own, 
and  there  is  always  a  broad  smile  in  evidence.  •  The  ridiculous 
always  appeals  to  him,  and,  in  drawing,  usually  something 
comical  comes  out.  To-day,  in  drawing  a  fruit  tree,  he  drew 
faces  in  the  fruit,  much  to  the  amusement  of  himself  and 
those  about  him. 

In  giving  myths,  I  should  choose  only  the  short,  simple 
ones.  I  am  sure  the  children  can  grasp  some  of  them.  Among 
other  stories  which  I  have  told,  there  is  one  about  a  little  tree 
that  grew  upon  a  rock.  This  they  liked,  and  the  moral 
seemed  to  make  quite  an  impression  upon  them.  Then  I 
found  one  about  a  little  wave's  journey  from  the  middle  of 
the  ocean— what  it  saw  and  what  it  brought  to  shore  with 
it.  This  appealed  to  them,  of  course,  because  they  go  to  the 
beach  so  often. 


52  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

One  day,  instead  of  telling  a  story,  I  gave  each  one  a  piece 
of  paper,  and  asked  him  to  draw  some  story  I  had  told,  and 
I  went  around  and  guessed  from  the  drawing  what  the  story 
was.  This  was  very  interesting,  and  in  the  majority  of  cases 
I  guessed  the  right  story. 

In  looking  at  the  picture  books,  which  they  have  almost 
every  day,  they  often  find  pictures  which  suggest  some 
story.  One  day,  in  finding  a  picture  of  some  swans  and 
goslings  on  a  pond,  Lorena  said :  "That  is  like  the  story  you 
told  us,  where  the  ugly  duckling  was  turned  into  a  beautiful 
swan."  In  finding  pictures  of  animals,  they  often  speak  of 
some  story  which  the  pictures  suggest.  One  day,  while 
passing  some  shells,  which  the  children  have  collected  and 
brought  from  time  to  time,  Lawrence  found  one  with  a  little 
tree-like  growth  upon  it,  and  he  said :  "That  makes  me  think 
of  the  story  of  that  little  tree  that  grew  upon  a  rock." 

Pictures,  as  I  said,  suggest  so  much  to  the  children,  and  I 
make  a  great  deal  of  them  in  my  class.  Almost  every  day 
the  scrap-books,  animal  book,  and  collection  of  bird  pictures 
are  passed,  and  the  children  enjoy  them  and  find  a  great  deal 
to  talk  about.  I  suggested  to  them  collecting  pictures,  and 
that  each  should  make  a  book  of  his  own.  It  was  surprising 
to  find  how  enthusiastic  they  were  over  this.  Every  day 
pictures  were  brought  from  home,  and  about  twice  a  week  I 
let  them  paste  them  in  manila  paper  books,  which  I  made  for 
each.  Of  course,  there  were  pictures  of  all  kinds,  colored  and 
uncolored,  pictures  cut  out  of  magazines  and  papers  and 
advertising  cards.  Each  took  a  special  pride  in  his  book. 
Many  times  when  a  child  would  have  two  pictures  of  a  kind, 
I  would  see  him  trading  with  some  one  else.  Some  of  the 
books,  of  course,  were  very  much  neater  than  others,  and 
some  were  quite  characteristic  of  the  children.  Winfield's 
was  made  up  of  ridiculous  pictures — "jokes,"  as  he  called 
them ;  Richard's  was  a  book  of  animals,  almost  entirely.  In 
some  of  the  little  girls'  books,  flowers,  birds,  etc.,  were 
prominent. 

I  considered  this  experiment  very  successful  in  every  way, 
and  enjoyed  it  quite  as  much  as  the  children,  I  think.  They 
are  constantly  referring  in  some  way  to  stories  which  a 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  LANGUAGE  53 

i 

picture  or  something  else  suggests  to  them,  and  I  am  con- 
vinced that  the  story  has  a  wonderful  effect,  and  is  one  of  the 
important  features  in  the  kindergarten.  To  me  it  certainly 
is  one  of  the  most  interesting. 

GERTRUDE  M.  DIEHL 

THE  STORY  IN  A  MIXED  CLASS 

Coming  in  contact  with  the  home  life  of  my  class  of  chil- 
dren, I  found  they  had  never  received  any  attention  in  so  far 
as  education  by  stories  or  pictures  is  concerned,  and  are 
simply  a  class  of  happy,  free,  out-of-door,  active  beings,  who 
would  require,  under  the  rule  and  confinement  of  an  ordinary 
schoolroom,  a  certain  amount  of  careful  discipline.  I  began 
by  having  the  usual  "nicely  prepared"  story,  with  a  good 
long,  moral  attachment.  My  audience  consisted  of  about 
one  half-interested  pupil;  the  balance  were  having  a  good 
time  in  many  ways  in  various  parts  of  the  room.  This  went 
on  until  it  was  tiresome  all  round,  and  I  tried  many  changes 
in  the  kind  of  story.  After  a  month  I  despaired,  as  I  was 
neither  pouring  in  nor  getting  anything  out  by  way  of 
representation,  for  no  child  can  give  expression  unless  he  has 
a  strong  impression.  At  last  I  let  the  children  do  the  story- 
telling to  see  what  they  were  interested  in  at  home.  When  I 
asked  for  stories,  there  was  only  one  who  responded.  As  he 
proceeded,  however,  several  volunteered  to  add  of  their 
stock  of  information;  the  next  day  two  or  three  became 
interested  enough  to  tell  me  something.  These  stories  were 
mere  statements  of  what  they  saw  at  home,  or  what  they 
imagined  they  saw  or  heard.  As  their  imagination  became 
more  weird  and  uncanny,  I  suggested  it  made  me  unhappy 
to  hear  cruel  stories,  and  then  arose  a  contention  as  to  which 
one  could  tell  me  the  happiest  story. 

I  met  the  same  backwardness  about  the  drawing.  Lukens 
says :  "Language  and  drawing  are  companions."  Only  a  few 
attempts  were  made  when  I  called  for  drawings,  and  these 
were  single  objects,  as  man,  boy,  dog,  cat,  etc.  The  reason 
given  was  a  universal  one,  "I  can't";  never,  "I  don't  want  to." 
I  kept  up  the  free  talks  for  several  weeks,  noting  carefully  all 


54  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

advances  in  the  story,  change  of  interest,  increase  in  vocabu- 
lary, the  apparent  effect  on  both  the  story-teller  and  the 
listeners.  They  asked  me  to  tell  them  a  story,  and  from  the 
notes  I  had  taken  I  formed  the  basis  of  my  talks.  They 
always  had  persons  and  actions  associated  in  various  ways. 
No  matter  how  many  details  were  in  my  story,  or  however 
thrilling  was  the  climax,  there  were  only  two  or  at  most  three 
objects  that  claimed  attention,  and  the  first  was  the  hero  or 
heroine  of  the  plot,  and  the  next  was  what  they  were  doing 
or  making. 

One  marked  feature  in  this  daily  program  was  the  eagerness 
with  which  one  child  received  the  experiences  of  another.  In 
two  weeks  there  was  manifested  more  of  a  spirit  of  freedom, 
and  of  the  nineteen  who  formed  the  average  daily  attendance 
only  three  refused  because  of  diffidence  to  express  themselves. 
From  this  experience  I  found  that  long  stories  are  not 
interesting.  Stories  with  too  abstract  ideas  are  to  be 
avoided;  the  language  and  plot  must  be  simple,  full  of 
action,  and  must  appeal  to  the  real,  everyday  life  of  the 
child.  I  had  now  reached  the  stage  in  my  acquaintance 
where  I  knew,  partially,  at  least,  what  children  could  and 
would  receive  from  me,  and  the  next  step  was  to  find  what 
they  would  give  back  to  me,  and  how  they  preferred  to  do  it. 
Drawing  was  certainly  very  popular  after  the  children  found 
I  was  satisfied  with  their  crude  efforts.  At  first  I  suggested 
single  objects,  and  by  questioning  them  as  to  their  knowl- 
edge of  any  given  subject,  which  was  always  a  very  familiar 
one,  I  found  there  was  a  readiness  to  respond,  on  paper,  or  at 
the  board.  I  found  that  talking  earnestly  about  any  object 
acted  as  a  great  stimulus.  "From  the  heart  the  mouth 
speaketh,"  so  when  the  children  are  brimful  of  interest  they 
must  express  it. 

There  seem  to  be  three  stages  in  the  development  of 
drawing  power;  first,  the  period  in  which  movements  are 
wholly  muscular,  and  are  guided  by  visual  centers.  This  may 
be  called  the  scribble  period  of  drawing  and  is  similar  to  the 
babble  period  of  talking,  or  the  kicking  period  preceding 
walking.  It  is  the  time  reaching  up  to  the  kindergarten  age. 
The  second  stage,  from  three  to  nine  years,  marks  a  change 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  LANGUAGE  55 

from  the  scribble  to  crude  representation  and  gradual  interest 
in  detail.  The  visual  centers  show  evidences  of  extreme 
instability  to  control  the  delicate  muscles  of  the  arm,  hand 
and  ringers,  which  must  be  presumed  to  be  coming  into 
functional  existence  at  this  time.  This  includes  the  kinder- 
garten period,  and,  observing  this  "physiological  inaccuracy," 
I  give  the  children  plenty  of  scope  to  exercise  the  larger 
muscles,  the  arm  movements  at  the  board,  or  with  soft, 
black,  sketching  crayon  and  large  pieces  of  paper.  Even 
crowding  the  space  at  the  board  tends  to  produce  cramped 
work,  and  I  draw  off  spaces,  placing  the  names  at  the  top,  so 
I  may  call  upon  each  one  to  report  upon  his  drawing,  and 
there  is  no  infringement  of  territorial  rights.  The  third 
stage,  which  is  the  motive  or  interest  period  in  which  the 
child  does  not  depend  entirely  on  his  mental  idea,  but  tries 
to  draw  from  objects,  may  be  beyond  my  work,  but  if  this 
second  period  receives  its  share  of  attention,  and  the  child's 
mental  development  goes  on  healthfully  with  proper 
stimuli,  he  is  ready  for  the  advance  in  execution  as  soon  as 
his  mental  powers  require  it. 

Not  to  confuse  their  mental  images,  I  show  the  children 
very  simple  pictures,  both  colored  and  black  and  white. 
Interest  for  the  time  being  seems  to  lean  more  to  the  colored, 
but  reproduction  is  not  any  better  if  quite  so  good.  The 
outline  pictures  are  most  readily  imitated.  I  made  a  test  of 
"Mother  Goose"  rhymes  as  an  incentive  to  expression.  The 
children  are  not  natural  actors  in  any  sense,  but  the  action 
expressed  in  many  of  the  jingles  caused  several  to  want  to 
dramatize  the  rhymes,  and  next  to  draw  them  on  the  board. 
The  child  feels  most  the  thing  he  tries  to  impersonate,  and 
loves  best  that  which  shows  the  most  of  himself.  This  I 
observe  in  all  of  their  work  and  play.  What  is  really  their 
own  creation,  whether  it  be  an  idea  or  a  toy,  is  most  readily 
appreciated.  This  is  why  Millicent  Shinn  and  others 
discovered  that  children  prefer  to  represent  their  own  ideas 
rather  than  objects  as  they  really  exist. 

A  great  many  old  magazines  and  picture-books  are  freely 
used,  and  the  children  are  given  the  privilege  of  selecting 
what  they  desire  for  scrap  books.  The  pictures  are  cut  out 


56  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

and  pasted  according  to  their  own  ideas.  Occasionally  one 
will  refer  to  me  to  know  whether  I  would  cut  it  a  certain 
way  or  suggest  another.  Looking  at  pictures  becomes 
consequently  more  of  a  business  than  it  was  when  I  merely 
placed  the  books  in  their  hands  to  look  at.  Every  child  has 
a  choice,  and  these  choices  are  afterwards  drawn  on  the 
board  or  paper,  not  as  an  imitation,  but  from  a  mental  image. 
I  have  lined  the  walls  with  standard  pictures,  mostly  in  black 
and  white  copies,  from  the  works  of  the  best  artists,  and  I 
have  found  that  only  so  much  appeals  to  the  childish  mind 
as  has  become  a  part  of  individual  experience.  Pictures  with 
too  many  facts  portrayed  do  not  reach  them  at  all,  and  they 
seem  relieved  to  find,  in  the  heterogeneous  mass,  a  stray 
dog,  cow  or  cat  upon  which  to  rest. 

In  an  experiment  with  models  I  gave  the  casts  of  a  cat 
and  a  dog,  and  received  exactly  the  same  kind  of  picture  as 
was  drawn  without  the  model ;  this  was  also  true  after  I  had 
taken  two  live,  active  dogs  into  the  kindergarten  for  several 
days  and  had  them  for  playmates. 

One  secret  of  success  I  am  sure  rests  in  being  able  to  accept 
whatever  the  children  do  and  in  cherishing  it  as  an  expression 
of  an  honest  effort,  notwithstanding  the  many  temptations 
to  read  into  their  work  something  that  is  not  there. 

I  frequently  ask  the  children  to  reproduce  some  object 
with  chalk  or  pencil  that  has  been  formed  with  the  blocks, 
sticks,  clay  or  other  material. 

To  avoid  weariness  of  drawing  I  try  to  change  the  order. 
One  day  our  paper  will  be  folded  in  the  form  of  a  book  or 
frame  of  some  novel  shape,  or  I  change  to  colored  pencils  or 
brushes.  The  drawing  period,  also,  is  not  over  ten  minutes 
with  privilege  of  returning  to  their  seats  if  the  children 
choose. 

Rulers  and  a  great  variety  of  geometric  forms  in  blocks 
of  all  sizes  are  placed  where  they  can  have  them  to  play  with 
every  day,  but  no  attempt  has  ever  been  made  to  draw  or 
form  conventional  figures.  One  little  boy  chanced  to  cut  a 
beauty  form  with  scissors,  but  he  could  not  be  persuaded  to 
name  it  until  he  made  another  attempt  and  cut  two  pieces 
resembling  feet.  Then  he  quickly  called  it  a  baby. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  LANGUAGE  57 

From  the  single-object  drawing,  the  class  of  their  own  free 
choice  has  advanced  in  three  months  to  group-drawings.  No 
criticism  as  to  number  of  objects,  kind  or  accuracy  has  ever 
been  made.  I  have  asked  that  so  much  of  the  story  as  could 
be  remembered  be  drawn,  and  in  a  few  instances  compliment- 
ed one  or  two  who  produced  extra  large  ones.  The  spirit  of 
competition  is  quite  marked  in  some  instances,  and  a  hint  to 
one  reacts  on  many.  The  most  backward  boy  I  had  in  the 
beginning,  one  who  could  neither  draw  nor  tell  a  story,  has 
developed  a  remarkable  taste  for  drawing,  and  has  gone  so 
far  in  detail  as  to  add  roots,  branches  and  fruit  to  his  trees, 
and  aprons  to  his  little  girls. 

Discipline  is  one  of  the  advantages  in  drawing.  I  owe  to 
music  and  drawing  a  large  share  of  the  "subduing  tendency" 
in  harmonizing  physical  actions  of  my  band,  so  unruly  at  the 
beginning  of  the  year.  This  was  accomplished  through  the 
attention  and  quiet  required  during  these  two  short  periods. 

MAY  REESE 


CLAY  MODELING 

With  our  work  in  clay  modeling  this  year,  we  have  followed 
the  plan  of  drawing  from  the  child  self-expression  and  indi- 
viduality rather  than  to  give  him  any  definite  training  in 
form-study  or  work  from  models. 

The  work  heretofore  had  seemed  very  mechanical  and  of 
but  little  value  to  the  child.  Many  kindergartens  have  the 
children  model  cubes,  cylinders,  tomatoes,  leaves  on  plaques, 
etc.,  endeavoring  to  have  them  do  artistic  and  finished  work, 
but  to  me  it  seems  that  the  clay  should  be  used  more  spon- 
taneously, and  represent  individuality  and  the  creative  work 
of  the  child. 

We  had  the  clay  modeling  almost  every  day  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  term,  and  later  three  times  a  week  regularly,  besides 
the  times  when  the  children  chose  it  of  their  own  free  will.  It 
was  always  kept  in  a  soft,  ready  condition,  and  plenty  of  it  on 
hand,  but,  strange  to  say,  if  left  to  themselves,  the  children 
all  made  diminutive  objects,  breaking  their  piece  of  clay  up 
into  small  pieces.  They  did  not  seem  equal  to  moulding 
objects  on  a  large  scale,  and  rarely  have  I  seen  them  mould 
an  object  from  a  whole  piece,  usually  making  the  ears,  legs, 
tails,  etc.,  and  attaching  to  a  main  body. 

The  time  allowed  for  the  use  of  the  clay  was  from  fifteen 
to  twenty  minutes.  A  longer  time  seemed  to  lead  to  careless 
work  on  the  part  of  many  children.  Some  days  they  would 
all  be  asked  to  mould  the  same  thing,  and  then,  again,  each 
child  could  mould  the  object  which  he  pleased.  Individu- 
ality of  interests  is  very  strongly  brought  out  in  this  class  of 
work.  In  a  class  of  twenty-five  children  there  have  often 
been  twenty  different  objects  made  by  as  many  children. 
Perhaps  children  side  by  side  will  each  make  four  or  five 
different  things,  each  one  working  out  his  own  ideas  regard- 
less of  the  others,  and  again  imitation  will  play  a  great  role, 
inspiring  many  children,  lacking  in  originality,  to  try  to 


CLAY  MODELING  59 

produce  something  like  that  of  his  neighbor.  The  value  of 
imitation  and  wise  suggestions  is  very  important,  and  much 
may  be  done  by  the  teacher  in  an  incidental  way. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  almost  every  child  seems  to 
work  for  one  or  more  characteristics,  or  striking  features,  in 
the  making  of  animals.  They  are  content  if  in  making  a 
rabbit  the  ears  are  tall  and  stand  up  straight,  even  though  the 
body  may  be  long  and  angular.  One  child  made  a  cow  with 
good  head  and  horns,  but  no  legs;  another  a  cat  with  type 
ears  and  four  feet,  but  much  too  heavy  tail;  a  rat,  with  a 
grotesque  body,  but  long,  slim  tail,  seemed  satisfactory. 
The  instances  are  innumerable  where  the  child  seems  satisfied 
with  such  work;  in  fact,  the  average  child  prefers  to  make 
many  cruder  objects  with  one  or  more  type  features,  than  to 
make  one  object  with  accuracy  and  finish  of  detail.  There 
are  exceptional  cases  where  a  child  will  work  with  wonderful 
finish  and  proportion  of  parts,  but  such  a  child  seems 
something  of  a  prodigy. 

Most  of  the  children,  whether  four  or  five,  seem  to  go 
through  a  marble  and  ball  making  stage — these  being  the 
first  objects  generally  attempted.  It  is  follpwed  by  the  mak- 
ing of  animals,  birds'  nests  and  eggs,  papa's  pipe,  cigar, 
wagons,  chairs,  spools,  etc. 

Strange  to  say,  they  never  modeled  any  dishes  until  I 
placed  a  toy  tea  set  on  the  table,  but  only  a  few  plates, 
sugar-bowls  and  teapots  were  made. 

The  making  of  the  human  figure  does  not  appear  first,  as 
in  the  drawing,  except  in  exceptional  cases.  Babies,  with  ball 
heads  and  rolls  of  clay  for  legs,  appear  in  cradles,  but  are  not 
made  extensively.  As  in  drawing,  the  work  is  very  crude,  but 
it  has  the  great  value  of  being  original  and  offering  an  insight 
into  the  child's  mind.  He  will  often  stumble  upon  something 
remarkable  by  accidentally  moulding  a  shape  and  recognizing 
its  likeness  to  a  familiar  object. 

Children  of  the  kindergarten  age  do  not  enjoy  working 
from  a  set  model.  Its  individual  characteristics  are  not  im- 
portant to  them.  A  type  apple  is  the  same  to  them  as  a  par- 
ticular one,  and  I  have  found  after  many  experiments  both 
ways,  that  they  represent  an  object  from  memory  with  more 


6O  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

readiness  and  satisfaction  than  if  asked  to  make  one  just 
like  the  teacher's  model. 

Stories  that  have  been  told  are  often  illustrated  spontane- 
ously with  the  clay.  "Rub-a-dub,  dub,  three  men  in  a  tub," 
was  very  suggestive,  and  many  clay  boats  and  tubs  were 
made  with  three  and  five  or  more  men  in  them.  After  re- 
peating the  rhyme  of  "Jack,  be  nimble,"  I  suggested  we  all 
try  making  candlesticks  and  candles.  Great  individuality 
was  shown,  and  all  made  the  kind  they  knew.  Some  were 
regular  tall,  brass  ones,  like  those  seen  in  churches,  and  others 
had  saucers  and  handles  in  various  shapes. 

GAIL  HARRISON 


MUSIC 

The  instinct  for  musical  appreciation  and  expression  devel- 
ops very  early,  and  is  in  a  highly  sensitive  and  teachable  state 
during  the  kindergarten  period.  Infants  in  the  first  year  of 
life  frequently  imitate  the  musical  cadences  of  a  conversation 
to  a  perfection  that  is  surprising.  Many  can  carry  a  tune  in 
the  second  year.  In  brain  softening  of  the  language  centers, 
known  as  aphasia,  it  is  the  musical  cadence  of  speech  which  is 
lost  last,  as  it  is  the  first  gained  in  speech  acquirement.  Gil- 
bert has  shown  that  at  six  years  the  child  is  able  to  detect 
intervals  far  more  delicate  than  any  of  the  requirements  of 
ordinary  music  demand.  Lancaster,  from  the  biographies  of 
one  hundred  famous  musicians,  has  shown  that  the  average 
age  at  which  they  have  shown  striking  evidence  of  ability  is 
under  ten  years.  What  is  the  function  of  music  in  the  Kin- 
dergarten? 

Dr.  C.  C.  Van  Liew,  in  a  review  of  the  conclusions  of  recent 
studies  of  children's  preferences  in  music,  shows  that  their 
instinctive  likings  fall  into  a  few  well-marked  groups  of  which 
the  more  important  are  martial  or  patriotic  selections,  re- 
ligious selections,  and  music  of  the  tender  emotions  which 
center  about  the  home.  Studies  in  the  music  of  primitive 
peoples  and  among  animals  show  that  these  groupings,  which 
children  prefer,  extend  in  tapering  tongues  far  backward  in 
human  civilization  and  finally  show  their  roots  originating 
in  the  mating,  fighting,  and  fearing  instincts  of  lower  animals. 
Through  racial  ages  music  has  been  linked  with  certain  emo- 
tions, primarily  those  of  love,  patriotism,  awe  and  religious 
worship.  Upon  the  psychological  principle  that  states  long 
associated  together  become  incentives  by  which  one  arouses 
the  other,  the  function  of  music  in  the  early  periods  of  life  is 
coming  to  be  regarded,  not  as  an  art,  but  as  something  more 
fundamental — an  incentive  by  which  to  excite  in  the  child  the 
latent  racial  emotions,  love  of  home,  country  and  God. 
Music,  in  this  primitive  stage,  belongs  not  to  art,  but  to 
morals.  Further,  in  its  immediate  origin,  we  know  music  has 


62  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

been  most  intimately  associated  with  the  rhythmic  dance. 
Music  in  the  kindergarten  must  be  upon  the  simpler,  more 
primitive  plane,  accompanied  by  movements  and  appealing 
by  strong  accentuation  to  the  patriotic,  religious  and  home 
sentiments.  We  have  heretofore  been  attempting  too  much 
in  the  kindergarten  to  graft  upon  early  childhood  an  appre- 
ciation of  the  more  subtly  aesthetic  phases  of  music  as  an  art. 
Music  as  an  art  has  a  later  place  in  the  child's  education. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1.  VAN  LIEW,  C.  C.    "The  Bearings  of  Musical  Development  on  the  Mu- 

sical Training  of  the  Child."     Proceedings  of  California  Teachers' 
Association,  1897:  186-97. 

2.  GATES,  FANNY  B.    "The  Musical  Interests  of  Children."    Journal  of 

Pedagogy,  October,  1898. 

3.  GILBERT,  J.  A.     "Experiments  upon  the  Musical  Sensitiveness  of 

School  Children."    Yale  Psychological  Studies,    Vol.  1 :  80-87. 

4.  BURK,  FREDERIC.    "The  Evolution  of  Music  and  Practical  Pedagogical 

Applications."   Proceedings  of  California  Teachers'  Association,  1898. 

5.  McKENZiE,  MOREL.    Hygiene  of  the  Vocal  Organs.    Macmillan,  1888. 

FREDERIC  BURK 
THE  METHOD  OF  Music  INSTRUCTION 

In  the  second  week  of  October,  music  was  introduced  into 
the  city  schools  and  kindergartens.  Since  that  time  teachers' 
meetings  have  been  held  for  the  discussion  of  methods  and 
plans  of  carrying  on  the  work  with  the  little  ones,  lessons 
have  been  given  to  the  teachers  in  tone  and  singing,  and  sug- 
gestions made  in  regard  to  the  use  of  the  piano. 

The  steps  taken  in  music  in  the  kindergartens  have  been 
suggested  by  the  action  of  the  children  themselves,  and  not 
by  any  preconceived  ideas  of  the  supervisor  of  music  or  of  the 
teachers.  Many  songs  and  games  presented  to  the  children 
have  not  been  continued  because  of  lack  of  interest  and  be- 
cause they  have  never  been  asked  for  by  the  children.  These 
will  not  be  discussed  in  this  paper.  The  attempt  has  been  not 
to  teach  music,  but  simply  to  give  the  proper  environment 
for  stimulating  a  desire  to  hear  and  to  sing.  We  have  worked 
on  the  idea  that  children  should  hear  a  great  deal  of  music 
before  they  are  expected  to  render  any,  and  the  results  have 
been  most  encouraging.  Besides  listening  intently  to  what 


MUSIC  63 

is  played  or  sung  for  them,  the  children  manifest  a  desire  to 
enter  into  the  music  with  a  wholeheartedness  that  is  sur- 
prising, and  which  meets  our  most  sanguine  expectations. 

To  lead  the  children  to  listen  to  music,  they  were  at  first 
allowed  to  stand  in  any  position,  and  after  their  interested 
attention  was  secured  for  an  instant,  they  were  told  they 
would  be  allowed  to  do  anything  they  chose — run,  clap 
hands,  march,  sit,  go  to  sleep,  sing,  play,  dance,  rock  dolls, 
play  horse,  or  do  anything  the  music  told  them  to  do.  At 
first  they  generally  followed  a  leader,  self  appointed,  but 
after  they  had  done  several  times  what  they  did  not  exactly 
think  the  music  told  them  to  do,  many  became  independent 
and  marked  their  own  rhythm  and  interpreted  to  suit  their 
own  fancies.  For  instance,  the  teacher  at  the  piano  played 
selections  from  "Marching  through  Georgia,"  "Home,  Sweet 
Home,"  "Coming  Through  the  Rye,"  "Traumerei,"  "Anvil 
Chorus,"  and  the  like,  varying  the  program  from  day  to  day. 
These  were  never  announced  nor  explained.  The  children 
were  left  free  to  do  what  they  wished,  and  from  the  first  they 
showed  much  interest  in  listening  and  "finding  a  story"  for 
themselves. 

This  work  should  not  be  mistaken  for  the  work  that  has 
been  carried  on  for  years  in  the  kindergarten,  where  stories 
are  told  of  musical  compositions,  such  as  the  Wagner  operas, 
a  Mozart  sonata,  or  the  Moonlight  sonata,  and  then  the  chil- 
dren are  directed  to  "listen  to  the  piano  tell  the  same  story," 
while  the  pianist  plays  the  composition  she  has  already  inter- 
preted, with  the  hope  of  showing  the  poor,  little  things  the 
spiritual  meaning  of  Lohengrin.  With  us  there  is  no  sugges- 
tion of  the  meaning,  in  story  or  otherwise — no  "logical  se- 
quence" leading  up  to  the  piano  playing.  The  children  are 
simply  led  to  express,  in  their  own  way,  the  emotion  that  the 
music  suggests,  and  when  they  do  so  by  clapping  hands, 
running,  or  quietly  listening,  no  comment  whatever  is  made 
in  regard  to  the  right  or  wrong  interpretation. 

A  great  deal  of  attention  has  been  given  to  physical 
rhythm,  going  through  the  steps  the  race  has  taken  to  de- 
velop music,  except  in  a  much  less  crude  manner.  We  dance, 
clap  hands  and  use  all  sorts  of  motions  to  songs,  not  for  the 


64  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

sake  of  teaching  gesture,  nor  to  give  meaning  to  the  words, 
but  to  have  the  child  feel  the  rhythm.  The  following  have 
been  the  most  popular  songs  for  this  purpose,  and  are  given 
in  the  order  they  were  used : 

1 .  "Did  You  Ever  See  a  Lassie." 

2.  "Children  Go,  To  and  Fro." 

3.  "The  Young  Musician." 

4.  "Jack  Horner"  and  other  "Mother  Goose"  melodies. 

5.  "Looby  Loo." 

6.  "The  Country  Dance." 

7.  "Anvil  Chorus." 

Of  the  songs  without  physical  action,  the  following  is 
decidedly  the  most  popular: 

"Once  I  got  into  a  boat, 
Such  a  pretty,  pretty  boat, 
Just  as  the  day  was  dawning; 
And  I  took  a  little  oar, 
And  I  pushed  away  from  shore, 
So  very,  very  early  in  the  morning." 

The  children  have  drawn  it,  represented  it  in  clay,  insisting 
upon  its  being  "not  a  boat,  but  'Once  I  got  into  a  boat'  ";  have 
dramatized  it,  and  never  failed  to  ask  for  it  when  given  an 
opportunity  to  choose. 

Kindergartners  usually  present  the  words,  with  explana- 
tion, first,  and  for  several  days  play  the  tune  on  the  piano 
before  putting  words  and  tune  together.  We  present  the 
song  in  its  entirety,  with  action  and  without  explanation. 
For  instance,  the  teacher  sits  at  the  table  with  the  pupils, 
and,  without  any  story  or  remarks,  sings  an  entire  verse  of: 

"O,  the  blacksmith's  a  fine,  sturdy  fellow; 
Hard  his  hand,  but  his  heart's  true  and  mellow." 

At  the  same  time  she  strikes  the  table  with  fist,  and,  keep- 
ing the  rhythm,  "plays  blacksmith."  The  children  never  fail 
to  catch  the  impulse,  and  upon  repetition  of  the  verse  need  no 
urging  to  sing.  Although  they  do  not  get  the  words  right, 
and,  in  fact,  do  not  understand  the  meaning  of  them  except 


MUSIC  65 

to  get  a  general  idea  of  the  story,  they  accept  the  song  if  it 
is  vigorous  and  rhythmical. 

Small  children  sing  very  difficult  intervals  if  the  swing  of 
the  song  pleases,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  success  of 
their  musical  training  depends  upon  the  power  of  the  teacher, 
and  if  the  kindergartners  were  trained  to  know  music,  as  they 
are  to  know  many  less  useful  things  in  the  professional 
schools,  they  could  give  the  child  an  impulse  that  would  be 
lifelong,  for  certainly  he  sings  as  naturally  as  he  talks.  All 
that  is  needed  is  proper  guidance  to  develop  what  is  too  often 
killed  by  improper  teaching. 

Besides  the  work  described,  we  sing  "Good  Morning"  songs, 
prayers,  games,  songs  of  trades,  nature  songs,  "Good  Byes," 
in  fact,  songs  for  all  times  and  places.  The  teachers  all  sing, 
and  yet  the  children  are  made  to  feel  that  they  are  expected 
to  sing  alone,  and  do  often  carry  choruses  alone. 

As  a  test  of  their  power  to  recognize  the  music  that  is 
played  and  sung  for  and  by  them,  the  supervisor  often  plays 
a  program  of  twenty  or  more  selections.  The  first  week  in 
May  the  following  test  was  given.  The  supervisor  of  music 
upon  her  weekly  visit  to  each  kindergarten  said:  "Now, 
children,  you  may  do  whatever  the  piano  tells  you  to  do."  She 
then  played  the  following:  "Cold  Water  Song,"  march  from 
"Figaro,"  "Home,  Sweet  Home,"  "Young  Musician,"  "Lohen- 
grin," "Little  Bo  Peep,"  "Looly  Loo,"  "Jolly  Old  St.  Nicho- 
las," "Once  I  Got  into  a  Boat,"  "Good  Bye  to  You,"  "Did  You 
Ever  See  a  Lassie,"  "Lucia  de  Lammermoor"  march,  "Coun- 
try Dance,"  "Sleep,  Baby,  Sleep,"  "Children  Go,  To  and 
Fro,"  "Dance  of  the  Brownies,"  "Shine  Out,  O  Blessed  Star," 
"Lips  Say  Good  Morning,"  "Anvil  Chorus."  During  the 
recital,  which  was  not  so  long  as  the  program  would  indicate, 
because  only  snatches  from  these  compositions  were  played, 
most  of  the  pupils  sang  or  marked  time  with  some  motion 
which  had  accompanied  the  first  rendition,  or  by  some  action 
of  their  own  showed  they  recognized  and  were  able  to  recall 
the  entire  program.  It  was  interesting  to  see  them  listen 
just  an  instant  at  the  change  of  tune,  and  then  take  the  mo- 
tion or  step  to  some  song  they  had  not  heard  for  months  or 
weeks.  Although  to  a  casual  observer  our  work  may  seem 


66  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

fragmentary  and  purposeless,  because  it  is  not  carried  out  on 
the  logical  plan,  we  are  sure  of  the  fact  that  the  children  like 
to  sing,  and  in  everything  they  do,  whether  drawing,  clay 
modeling,  playing  with  blocks,  rocking  dolls,  sand  work,  or 
looking  at  pictures,  they  are  constantly  reminded  of  some 
song,  and  the  desire  to  sing  is  manifest  in  their  action. 

The  work  that  has  been  carried  on  throughout  the  entire 
school  system  has  made  it  an  easy  matter  to  get  the  child  to 
express  himself.  The  very  atmosphere  has  been  impregnated 
with  self -helpful  ness. 

The  daily  program  includes  at  least  ten  songs,  and  more 
often  fifteen,  besides  the  piano  playing,  in  order  something 
like  this:  March,  "Good  Morning,"  prayer,  free  choice,  when 
several  songs  are  sung,  singing  at  tables,  piano  playing  for 
rest,  cultivation  of  ear,  singing  during  free  play,  lesson  in 
rhythm,  songs  and  "Good  Byes." 

Of  course,  there  has  been  individual  work  with  those  who 
do  not  sing  in  class.  Through  the  close  relationship  of  the 
kindergartners  and  the  home,  we  learned  that  many  of  the 
children  sing  at  home  and  teach  the  songs  to  their  little  broth- 
ers and  sisters,  and  we  believe  the  reason  for  their  silence  in 
class  is  timidity  or  inability  to  respond  to  the  same  rhythm, 
and  when  they  seem  indifferent  they  are  perhaps  taking  in 
more  than  they  would  if  urged  to  sing.  With  proper  encour- 
agement they  come  into  class  in  time.  The  "monotones"  re- 
ceive more  help,  and  the  ear  is  trained  with  piano  and  voice. 
While  they  are  encouraged,  they  are  not  told  they  are  right 
except  when  they  are.  Kindergartners  have  done  much  harm 
in  allowing  monotones  to  pass  through  the  kindergartens,  be- 
lieving they  were  singing.  We  take  the  tone  they  give,  and 
work  up  and  down  from  that,  and  we  have  a  plan  for  encour- 
aging all  the  children  to  make  tunes  of  their  own,  which  gives 
the  "monotones"  an  opportunity  to  express  themselves.  It 
has  not  been  tried  long  enough  to  determine  whether  this  will 
prove  helpful  or  otherwise. 

Pianos  are  all  tuned  to  the  international  pitch,  and  are  used 
for  the  exercises  in  rhythm  and  for  training  the  ear  to  various 
tunes..  Nothing  but  good  music  is  played,  but  never  an  entire 
composition.  The  motif  is  played  distinctly  and  changed 


MUSIC  67 

often,  that  is,  at  one  sitting  the  teacher  plays  several  snatches 
of  good  compositions. 

Thus,  while  we  are  trying  to  hold  the  interested  attention 
of  the  little  ones,  we  are  in  no  way  forcing  the  attention,  but 
are  aiming  to  satisfy  the  musical  instinct,  and  keep  in  mind 
that  the  emotions  develop  before  the  higher  intellectual 
powers.  It  naturally  follows  that  exercise  of  these  emotions 
goes  before  the  more  abstract  lessons. 

JULIET  POWELL  RICE 

Supervisor  of  Music 


CHILDREN'S  SPONTANEOUS  CHOICE  AND  USE  OF 
KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS 

The  kindergarten  is  loaded  down  with  an  unsifted  mass  of 
material  which  has  been  chosen  by  the  adult  mind  as  suitable 
for  the  logical  development  of  the  child  and  which  has  been 
used  as  the  basis  of  dictation  exercises,  arranged  in  formal 
sequence.  The  child  has  not  been  particularly  consulted 
either  in  the  choice  of  material,  or  in  the  use  to  be  made  of  it, 
and  just  what  the  natural  reaction  toward  these  materials,  or 
their  use,  is  on  the  part  of  the  well-behaved,  docile  little 
puppets  who  furnish  the  background  in  the  drama  of  the 
gifts  and  occupations,  is  hard  to  determine.  The  Santa 
Barbara  kindergartens  were  anxious  to  discover  the  sponta- 
neous reaction  of  the  children  toward  the  traditional  kinder- 
garten materials,  and  for  this  purpose  a  test  was  made,  of 
sufficient  educational  value  in  itself,  however,  it  was  thought, 
to  redeem  it  from  the  purely  experimental  plane. 

The  test  was  as  follows:  Every  day  for  half  an  hour  the 
kindergarten  materials,  the  gifts  and  occupations,  were 
spread  on  a  table  and  each  child  chose  what  one  thing  he 
cared  to  play  with  for  that  time.  At  first  the  idea  was  car- 
ried out  in  the  form  of  a  play;  the  table  and  its  contents  were 
supposed  to  be  a  store,  and  the  children  came,  and,  using  the 
tablets  or  parquetry  circles  for  money,  bought  what  they 
wanted,  so  that  that  half  hour  of  the  day  came  to  be  known 
as  "store  time,"  a  name  which'  clung  to  it  long  after  the  "store" 
idea  was  reduced  simply  to  the  less  romantic  "free-choice 
time."  Each  child  took  his  material  to  his  seat,  as  a  rule,  and 
there  did  what  he  pleased  with  it.  The  following  materials 
were  used:  Beads  (spheres,  cubes  and  cylinders  of  various 
colors)  with  strings,  blocks,  clay,  first-gift  balls,  second-gift 
cubes,  spheres  and  cylinders,  lentils,  parquetry,  folding 
paper,  pencil  and  paper,  rings,  scissors  and  paper,  sewing 
cards,  slats,  sticks,  tablets  and  tile  boards.  The  sewing  cards 
were  ready  perforated  with  holes,  large  and  far  apart  (on  the 


CHOICE  AND  USE  OF  KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS 


69 


average  a  half  inch),  representing  animals,  fruit,  designs,  etc. 
The  test  covered  a  period  of  two  months,  and  was  carried 
on  in  the  four  kindergartens.  The  first  month  was  allowed 
as  a  preliminary  step,  during  which  time  the  children  were 
becoming  accustomed  to  the  novelty  of  the  idea,  and  the  kin- 
dergartners  were  experimenting  on  the  best  way  of  giving  out 
the  material  and  of  keeping  a  record  of  the  choices  made.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  second  month  all  was  ready  for  a  sys- 
tematic, uniform  method  of  procedure.  The  children  had  set- 
tled down  and  accepted  the  performance  in  a  matter-of-fact 
way.  They  were  by  this  time  quite  familiar  with  all  the 
materials,  so  that  mere  novelty  of  any  special  material  could 
not  influence  choice.  From  a  study  of  the  various  notes  made 
by  the  kindergartners  during  the  first  month  it  was  decided 
just  what  sort  of  uniform  record  should  be  kept.  Squares 
were  blocked  out  on  a  large  sheet  of  paper ;  the  names  of  the 
children  were  written  in  a  vertical  column  on  the  left;  the 
record  of  each  child  was  kept  in  a  horizontal  column  to  the 
right,  each  square  representing  a  day,  as  follows: 


Mon.  Apr.  17. 

Tues.  Apr.  18. 

Wed.  Apr.  19. 

Thurs.Apr.20. 

Fri.  Apr.  21. 

Minnie 

Beads. 
Classified    by 
color. 

Clay. 
Represented  a 
man. 

Clay. 
Represented  a 
boat. 

Scissors  and 
paper. 
Made  doll's 
handkerchief 
fringed. 

Scissors  and 
paper. 
Made  designs. 

Adolph 

Sewing    card. 

Blocks. 
Made  a  barn. 

Beads. 
No  order. 

Clay. 
Made  mouse. 

Parquetry. 
Design. 

Thus  running  the  eye  across  the  page  one  could  see  the 
whole  number  of  choices  made  in  succession  by  each  child 
during  the  month ;  looking  down  the  page,  one  could  see  the 
choices  made  by  all  the  children  on  any  particular  day.  In 
each  square  were  written:  first,  what  material  the  child 
chose;  second,  what  he  did  with  that  material.  In  this  way 
it  was  sought  to  discover  what  materials  appealed  most  large- 
ly to  the  children  and  what  was  their  spontaneous  use  of  the 
various  materials.  The  kindergartners  were  careful  to  have 
each  child's  choice  as  independent  as  possible.  To  avoid  the 
danger  of  suggestion  some  of  them  even  had  each  child,  after 


7O  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

he  had  looked  over  the  table,  whisper  what  he  wanted,  and 
then  when  all  had  chosen  distributed  the  material.  The 
records  of  the  B  and  A  classes  were  kept  separate  in  order  to 
note  differences  between  the  first  and  second-year  children; 
the  records  in  the  four  wards  were  also  worked  over  separate- 
ly to  note  the  influence  of  different  environment,  and  later 
were  combined  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  what  interests  per- 
sisted in  spite  of  environment  and  remained  fundamental. 
Now  as  to  the  results  of  the  test. 

CHOICE  OF  MATERIAL 

The  whole  number  of  choices  made  in  the  four  kinder- 
gartens was  1,755,  °f  which  804  were  in  the  A  classes,  that  is, 
the  second-year  children  from  five  to  six  years  of  age,  and 
951  were  in  the  B  classes,  composed  of  the  first-year  children 
from  four  to  five  years  of  age. 

A  study  of  the  records  of  the  four  kindergartens  shows 
great  uniformity  in  the  results,  with  but  a  few  exceptions, 
which  we  should  naturally  expect,  due,  perhaps,  to  some  pre- 
vious training,  or  some  influence  causing  a  run  of  a  certain 
thing  in  a  certain  kindergarten.  It  is  supposable  that  kinder- 
gartens may  have  fads  as  well  as  other  bodies  of  people,  and 
the  "psychology  of  the  crowd"  may  begin  as  far  down  as  the 
kindergarten.  For  example,  in  one  kindergarten  blocks  were 
unusually  popular,  owing  to  an  intense  interest  developed  in 
them  previous  to  the  "store"  experiment,  an  interest  which 
was  due  to  the  remarkable  blocks  themselves,  elegant,  huge 
blocks,  as  they  were,  straight  from  the  planing  mill.  Beads, 
so  popular  in  the  three  other  kindergartens,  were  hardly 
chosen  at  all  in  this  one.  The  children  had  formerly  used  the 
beads  as  blocks  to  build  with,  instead  of  for  stringing,  and 
when  some  larger  play  blocks,  and  then  the  huge  planing-mill 
blocks,  were  introduced  in  turn,  the  charm  of  the  beads  van- 
ished. Another  striking  exception  was  in  the  B  class  of  the 
third  ward.  Clay,  so  universally  enjoyed,  was  here  hardly 
touched,  while  the  first  gift  ball,  which  was  of  less  interest  in 
the  other  wards,  was  overwhelmingly  popular  in  this  ward. 
This  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  this  particular  class  con- 
sists of  very  immature  Spanish  children,  who  are  hardly  be- 


CHOICE  AND  USE  OF  KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS  7! 

yond  the  stage  of  physical  play,  and  might  really  be  called  a 
C  class. 

Beyond  these  two  striking  exceptions,  easily  explained  by 
the  local  conditions,  there  are  only  minor  variations  in  the 
different  kindergartens.  The  emphatic  feature  in  the  records 
is  the  uniformity,  leaving  us  to  believe  that  the  results  show 
the  workings  of  fundamental,  universal  interest,  rather  than 
the  effect  of  local  environment.  By  uniting  the  four  records, 
too,  we  eliminate  local  variations  and  strike  a  safe  average. 
The  table  and  chart  given  below  show  the  combined  result 
of  all  the  choices,  and  the  proportion  of  the  children  in  both 
classes  choosing  the  various  materials.  The  lower  black  lines 
represent  the  second-year  children,  or  the  A  class ;  the  dotted 
lines  represent  the  first-year  children,  or  the  B  class. 

From  Chart  I  it  will  be  seen :  ( I )  that  certain  materials  are 
very  little  chosen — the  second  gift  blocks  separate  from  the 
general  mixed  play  blocks,  the  lentils,  the  rings,  the  sticks, 
the  tablets,  the  slats,  the  folding  paper.  The  pencil  and 
paper,  too,  are  not  much  chosen,  being  outweighed  by  the 
larger,  freer  drawing  on  the  board  at  another  time  of  the  day ; 
(2)  that  certain  materials  are  moderately  popular,  as  beads 
and  parquetry,  the  tile  board  and  the  blocks ;  and  (3)  that 
the  two  materials  far  outstripping  the  rest  in  interest  are  clay 
and  the  sewing  card. 

The  folding-paper  and  the  lentils  were  never  chosen  more 
than  once  by  an  A  class  child,  or  twice  by  a  B  class  child. 
Slats  were  selected  not  more  than  two  times  by  any  child. 
This  was  true  also  of  the  tablets  and  the  rings.  In  the  A 
class  no  child  ever  chose  the  tile  board,  the  beads,  or  the 
sticks  more  than  twice.  The  handling  of  such  material  one 
or  two  times  was  sufficient  to  prove  its  limited  capabilities. 
On  the  other  hand,  clay  was  often  chosen  five,  six  or  seven, 
even  eleven,  times  by  the  same  child.  The  average  number 
of  times  that  it  was  chosen  by  those  selecting  it  at  all  was  4.7 
times.  The  sewing-card  was  in  some  instances  taken  fifteen 
and  sixteen  times,  the  average  number  being  five  times. 

We  may  notice  a  few  points  of  difference  in  the  choices  of 
the  first  and  second-year  children.  To  the  first-year  chil- 
dren the  materials  possess  greater  novelty.  Their  choice 


72  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

CHART  I,  SHOWING  CHOICE  OF  MATERIALS 


% 

Sewing  card 

I3>2 

A 

4i 

g 

Clay 

A 

29 

Beads 
A 

4 



Parquetry 

A 

8 

Tileboard 
A 

2 

— 

Blocks 
A 

7 
6 



1st  Gift 
A 

7 
i 

- 

B 
Scissors  &  paper 
A 

2 

3 

— 

B 

Pencil  and  paper 
A 

1% 
3 

— 

B 

Sticks 
A 

2% 
X 

- 

B 

Rings 
A 

2 
% 

- 

B 
Tablets 
A 

2 

X 

- 

B 
Folding-paper 

A 

*y* 

i 

- 

B 
2nd  Gift 
A 

i 
y* 

- 

B 

Lentils 
A 

i 

B 

Slats 
A 

i 
x 

- 

CHOICE  AND  USE  OF  KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS  73 

is  consequently  more  scattered.  Their  interests  are  less  dif- 
ferentiated, less  narrowed  down,  more  general.  They  are 
in  the  experimental  stage  where  they  want  to  try  everything 
and  find  its  value,  or  where,  not  knowing  so  well  the  capa- 
bilities of  any  certain  object,  they  are  attracted  by  some 
pleasing  external  feature,  and  they  choose  not  knowing  what 
they  are  going  to  do  with  the  object.  No  one  choice  stands 
out  so  prominently.  Beads  represent  the  largest  choice  of 
the  B  classes,  though  only  19  per  cent,  followed  closely 
by  clay,  18  percent;  then  the  sewing-card,  13^  Per  cent; 
the  tile  board,  10^2  per  cent;  parquetry,  10  per  cent;  the 
first  gift,  7  per  cent;  and  blocks,  7  per  cent.  The  second- 
year  children,  on  the  contrary,  with  more  experience  behind 
them,  narrow  their  choice  largely  down  to  two  or  three  defi- 
nite lines.  The  sewing-card  and  clay  are  most  strikingly 
prominent,  occupying  70  per  cent  of  all  the  choices,  and 
followed  much  more  modestly  by  parquetry  to  the  extent  of 
only  8  per  cent. 

Of  the  seven  materials,  then,  which  show  any  prominence 
in  either  the  A  or  B  classes — beads,  clay,  the  sewing-card, 
the  tile  board,  parquetry,  blocks  and  the  first  gift — we  see 
that  the  second-year  children  lead  the  first  in  clay  and  the 
sewing-card,  and  the  first-year  children  lead  the  second  in 
beads,  the  tile  board  and  the  first  gift  strongly,  and  in  par- 
quetry and  blocks  very  slightly,  the  second-year  children, 
indeed,  showing  almost  no  interest  in  the  tile  board  or  the 
first  gift.  Clay  and  the  sewing-card,  then,  are  the  two  things 
especially  which  keep  up  a  permanent  and  growing  interest 
into  the  second  year.  Of  minor  choices  the  second-year 
children  lead  the  first  in  pencil  and  paper  and  scissors  and 
paper.  What  may  be  done  in  developing  more  interest  in 
these  materials  is  awaiting  the  result  of  experience. 

The  fact  that  such  differences  do  appear  in  the  children  of 
the  different  years  of  the  kindergarten  shows  at  least  that  the 
kindergarten  child  is  not  at  a  standstill ;  that  he  is  in  the  pro- 
cess of  development  in  both  interests  and  ability.  There 
seem  to  be  certain  clearly  marked  stages  in  both  his  interests 
and  his  method  of  attack.  Let  me  suggest  these  in  a  general 
way,  basing  my  conclusions  not  only  on  the  mass  results  of 


74  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

figures,  but  on  general  observations  of  individual  children  in 
the  kindergarten.  The  child's  interest  at  first  lies  in  physical 
activity,  in  muscular  pleasure.  He  does  not  like  to  sit  at  a 
table  and  pretend  to  be  doing  something  with  something — a 
stupid  occupation  for  an  active  child.  As  we  saw  in  the  B 
class  of  the  third  ward  kindergarten,  the  little  Spanish 
children,  representing  the  greatest  immaturity,  love  of  all 
things  to  play  with  the  balls.  They  take  them  out  into  the 
large  room  and  run  around  gaily  and  throw  and  roll  the  balls. 
This  natural  desire  for  physical  activity  is  too  often  curbed 
in  the  kindergarten,  and  the  entering  children  are  too  often 
prematurely  forced  into  being  little  models.  The  kinder- 
garten is  turned  into  a  school  rather  than  a  child-garden. 

When  the  child  does  make  his  first  attack  on  the  material, 
whatever  it  is,  it  is  in  the  line  of  aimless  handling.  He  does 
not  do  anything  with  the  material,  he  does  not  know  what 
he  wants  to  do  with  it,  or  what  can  be  done  with  it.  But  he 
is  interested  to  handle,  to  touch,  to  feel,  and  if  the  object  is 
something  soft  or  pretty  and  bright  colored,  so  much  the  bet- 
ter. He  likes  to  handle  the  soft,  warm,  colored  ball,  or  he 
likes  to  finger  with  the  tileboard  or  the  lentils.  When  grad- 
ually he  settles  down  really  to  "do  something  with  some- 
thing," he  first  combines  muscular  pleasure  with  the  rudi- 
ments of  construction.  He  is  interested  in  the  doing  rather 
than  in  the  result  to  be  attained.  Now,  instead  of  handling 
aimlessly  or  indulging  in  mere  physical  exercise,  he  is  inter- 
ested in  the  accomplishing  (not  the  accomplishment)  of  some- 
thing. This  something  must  be  very  simple,  or  it  may,  in- 
deed, hardly  amount  to  anything  at  all.  The  child  likes  now, 
instead  of  merely  fingering  the  beads,  to  string  them  into  a 
necklace,  and  he  strings  and  strings  and  strings,  and  his 
soul  seems  to  find  satisfaction  in  mere  stringing;  or,  per- 
chance, it  finds  satisfaction,  when  he  deals  in  parquetry,  in 
mere  sticking,  or,  when  he  is  concerned  with  the  tileboard,  in 
mere  pegging.  But  string  and  stick  and  peg  he  must — in  lieu 
of  anything  better.  Meanwhile  along  with  this  doing,  he 
enjoys  pleasant  sensations  of  color  in  the  variegated  beads 
and  pegs  and  parquetry,  and  rudimentary  art-feeling  is — 
let  us  trust — stirred. 


CHOICE  AND  USE  OF  KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS  75 

But  soon  the  child  passes  from  the  stage  of  mere  doing 
into  a  rapidly  developing  constructive  stage,  where  the  con- 
structive instinct  blossoms  as  under  an  April  shower,  and 
advances  from  baldest  simplicity  to  ever-growing  complex- 
ity. In  this  stage  clay  and  blocks  furnish  capable  material. 
Along  with  the  constructive  instinct  the  art  instinct  puts 
forth  a  few  more  feeble  shoots  and  parquetry-work  begins 
to  show  more  evidences  of  design,  of  symmetrical  arrange- 
ment, than  at  first.  With  the  feeling  of  beauty,  too,  grows 
its  counterpart,  the  feeling  of  use  and  permanency,  and  the 
sewing-card  attains  great  value  in  the  childish  eyes.  A  glance 
at  the  table  will  show  that  with  the  first-year  children  clay 
exceeded  the  sewing-card ;  and  with  the  second-year  children 
the  sewing-card,  combining  beauty,  use  and  permanency,  ex- 
ceeded clay.  The  younger  children,  too,  in  most  of  their 
choices  are  influenced  by  the  momentary  pleasure  of  the 
handling,  or  the  playing,  or  the  doing.  Then  this  material 
is  cast  aside  and  the  next  day  they  have  forgotten  what  they 
did  the  day  before.  With  the  older  children  the  definitely 
constructive  interest  is  far  stronger,  and  also  the  loye  of 
beauty  and  permanency.  One  of  the  chief  charms  of  the 
sewing-card  seems  to  be  that,  once  done,  it  is  "something 
pretty,"  as  the  children  here  always  call  it,  something  that  is 
more  satisfactory  to  their  dawning  self-consciousness  than 
their  own  crude  attempts  at  outline,  and,  moreover,  some- 
thing permanent.  The  younger  children,  as  I  have  already 
suggested,  handle  and  experiment  with  the  slats,  tablets, 
sticks,  rings,  lentils,  folding-paper,  etc.  The  novelty  or  the 
bright  color,  or  some  external  feature  attracts  them.  But 
soon  the  choice  becomes  based,  not  on  the  superficial  attrac- 
tions of  the  material  itself,  but  on  what  use  that  material  can 
be  put  to.  Use,  then,  with  the  older  children,  super  cedes  ex- 
ternal attractiveness  as  a  basis  of  choice.  Clay,  for  example,  is 
not  so  pleasing  to  the  eye  as  the  gay  beads  or  the  festive  tile- 
board,  but  it  can  be  used  more  variously,  can  be  made  into  an 
infinite  number  of  forms. 

The  question  of  use  brings  us  to  the  second  part  of  the 
study,  as  based  on  the  records. 


76  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

USE  OF  MATERIAL 

The  spontaneous  use  of  the  materials  was  recorded  under 
the  following  heads:  No  Order,  or  Aimless;  Form  Arrange- 
ment; Color  Arrangement ;  Design;  Representation.  The 
results  may  be  seen  in  Chart  1 1  which  follows.  The  sewing- 
card,  which  furnishes  the  child  with  a  picture  or  design  al- 
ready marked  out,  and  so  does  not  represent  spontaneous 
arrangement  on  his  part,  is  omitted  in  this  consideration,  and 
only  the  spontaneous  uses  of  the  other  materials  are  repre- 
sented in  the  percentages. 

The  amount  of  aimless  play  with  the  first-year  children  is 
great,  36  per  cent,  while  this  decreases  to  18  per  cent  with  the 
second-year  children.  Of  the  purposeful  play,  with  both 
classes,  representation  leads;  then  follows  color  arrangement, 
in  which  the  first-year  children  are  slightly  more  interested 
than  the  second-year  children;  design  takes  a  third  place, 
and  is  more  prominent  with  the  second-year  children.  Form 
arrangement,  as,  for  example,  the  alternation  of  a  regular 
number  of  cube  beads  with  a  regular  number  of  ball  beads,  or 
some  such  combination,  is  decidedly  insignificant  in  both 
classes.  It  is  evident,  then,  that  the  kindergarten  child's 
spontaneous  self-activity  and  interest  are  toward  natural 
and  life  forms  rather  than  toward  forms  of  beauty  and  geo- 
metric design,  although,  clearly,  there  are  some  traces  of  the 
art-instinct  in  this  latter  line.  The  cruder  form  of  the  art- 
instinct,  as  seen  in  mere  color  arrangement,  is  somewhat  more 
manifest.  Interest  in  concrete  representation  far  outweighs 
interest  in  abstract  form  and  design  arrangement.  The 
child  prefers  to  imitate  from  memory,  with  delightful  free- 
dom, rather  than  to  confine  himself  to  the  narrow  restraint 
of  symmetrical  proportions. 

What  distribution  of  use  do  we  find  among  the  different 
materials?  The  aimless  play  is  largely  with  the  beads,  the 
parquetry  and  the  tileboard  in  both  A  and  B  classes.  There 
is  almost  no  aimless  play  with  clay  or  blocks.  Color  ar- 
rangement pertains  largely  to  the  beads,  parquetry  and  tile- 
board  ;  with  the  B  class  almost  entirely  to  the  beads,  while 
with  the  A  class  more  to  the  parquetry,  united  at  the  same 
time  with  design.  Desien  is  found  almost  exclusively  with 


CHOICE  AND  USE  OF  KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS 


77 


the  parquetry,  and  to  some  slight  extent  with  the  paper  and 
scissors.  Clay  and  blocks  are  practically  devoted  wholly  to 
representation;  and  the  spirit  of  representation  crops  out 
also  in  some  degree  in  the  use  of  the  tileboard,  as  far  as  its 
limited  capability  will  permit,  and  of  the  paper  and  scissors. 


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78  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

The  use,  then,  to  which  the  material  can  be  put,  we  now  see 
more  clearly,  determines  choice.  Much  of  the  undirected 
play  of  the  first-year  children  is  aimless — nearly  half  of  their 
bead  play,  over  half  of  their  parquetry  play,  four-fifths  of 
their  tileboard  play,  and  nearly  all  of  their  play  with  the  minor 
materials  are  aimless — so  that  the  younger  children  are  not 
concerned  as  to  what  they  can  do  with  their  material,  but 
choose  according  to  the  glittering  attractions  of  the  various 
materials  themselves.  Hence  they  dabble  in  a  greater  vari- 
ety. The  second-year  children  choose  material  far  more 
largely  for  what  they  can  do  with  it,  as  only  18  per  cent  ot 
their  work  is  aimless.  Now  what  material,  of  all  those  which 
are  open  to  spontaneous  exercise  on  the  part  of  the  children, 
is  most  susceptible  to  handling,  most  plastic,  most  capable 
of  assuming  a  great  variety  of  forms,  most  tempting  to  the 
constructive  instinct?  Clay.  Clay  is  infinitely  more  pliable, 
more  adaptable  than  blocks.  With  blocks  only  houses, 
trains,  etc.,  can  be  made,  but  with  clay,  everything  under  the 
sun.  Clay,  too,  has  its  advantages  over  pencil  and  paper, 
or  paper  and  scissors,  for  its  representations  are  not  flat, 
but  are  realistic,  of  three  proportions.  So  much  for  clay  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  child's  interest.  The  superiority  ot 
clay  work  in  giving  exercise  and  plasticity  to  the  hand  and 
fingers,  with  no  possibility  of  the  pencil-cramp,  should  give 
it  an  important  place  in  the  kindergarten  curriculum  from 
the  standpoint  of  physical  development,  if  nothing  else. 

A  few  sex  differences  may  be  noticed.  These  are  not  strik- 
ing. The  kindergarten  boy  and  girl  are  not  differentiated  to 
any  great  extent.  Looking  at  the  more  popular  materials,  we 
find  that  about  the  same  proportion  of  boys  and  girls  choose 
parquetry,  the  girls  exceeding  the  boys  somewhat  in  the  B 
classes;  the  girls  lead  the  boys  decidedly  in  choice  of  the 
sewing-card,  though  the  boys  show  a  very  strong  interest  in 
it,  and  they  also  lead  with  the  beads,  the  boys  having  but 
small  interest  in  these ;  in  the  use  of  the  clay  and  blocks  the 
boys  exceed  the  girls,  though  the  interest  is  very  strong  with 
the  girls.  Shall  we  say  that  the  girls  are  more  interested 
in  pretty  effects,  as  shown  in  the  sewing-card,  and  that  they 
are  less  original,  spontaneous,  initiative,  while  the  boys  are 


CHOICE  AND  USE  OF  KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS  79 

more  independent,  more  actively  constructive?    We  find  at 
least  only  the  germs  of  these  differences  in  the  kindergarten. 

REPRESENTATION 

To  find  the  trend  of  the  children's  interest  in  the  line  of 
representation,  Chart  III  was  made,  showing  what  was  repre- 
sented, whether  the  human  form,  animal  forms,  things,  or 
story-illustration. 

In  both  classes  the  representation  of  objects  exceeds  that 
of  the  human  form  or  of  animals.  This  is  due  largely  to  the 
fact  that  clay  is  the  chief  material  used,  and  ease  of  repre- 
sentation plays  an  important  part.  With  the  pencil  the 
human  form  predominates,  as  all  studies  on  children's 
drawings  likewise  show.  But  the  interesting  revelation  in 
these  representations  lies  in  the  great  variety  of  forms  with 
which  these  young  artists  are  familiar.  The  first-year  chil- 
dren represented  eleven  different  kinds  of  animals — rabbits, 
dogs,  chickens,  fish,  birds,  turtles,  cats,  bears,  bugs,  pigeons 
and  horses.  The  second-year  children  represented  all  these 
and  added  monkeys,  ducks,  donkeys,  foxes,  parrots,  pigs, 
snakes,  mice,  butterflies,  elephants,  making  twenty-one 
different  kinds.  The  first-year  children  represented  eighty 
different  kinds  of  objects;  the  second-year  children  over 
ninety  different  kinds.  The  following  list  of  the  objects 
represented  by  the  children  gives  some  index  to  the  range  of 
their  thought:  Santa  Barbara  Mission,  houses,  churches, 
castles,  towers,  Spanish  houses,  chicken-coops,  barns,  wind- 
mills, boats,  sailboats,  bridges,  tunnels,  reservoirs,  water- 
tanks,  car-lines,  electric  cars,  trains,  engines,  yards,  corrals, 
gardens,  fences,  gates,  wagons,  buggies,  wagon  wheels,  dump- 
carts,  rafts;  of  objects  about  the  home — chairs,  rocking- 
chairs,  high-chairs,  tables,  stools,  couches,  sofas,  windows, 
picture  frames,  pictures,  beds,  cradles,  baby  buggies,  bath- 
tubs, stoves,  pails,  dishes,  bottles,  glasses,  pans,  flatirons, 
bells,  oil-tanks,  candles,  candle-sticks,  matches,  match-cases, 
baskets,  lanterns,  water-pipes,  ladders,  step-ladders,  rakes, 
boxes,  bird-cages,  saddles,  tools,  hooks,  planes,  hatchets, 
table-cloths,  napkins,  thimbles,  spools  of  thread ;  of  person- 
al things — hats,  caps,  capes,  collars,  neckties,  shawls,  rings, 


8o 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 


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CHOICE  AND  USE  OF  KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS  8 1 

chairs,  fans,  hair-brushes,  pipes;  of  playthings — kites,  fire- 
crackers, marbles,  bicycles,  sleds,  guns,  scrap-books,  doll- 
buggies,  dolls'  handkerchiefs,  swings,  balls;  of  things  to  eat — 
candy,  puddings,  tomales,  tortillas,  bread,  pies,  mush,  cake, 
doughnuts,  cookies,  pancakes;  of  nature  objects — sticks, 
mushrooms,  trees,  flowers,  apples,  birds'  nests,  birds'  eggs, 
rattlesnake  holes,  smoke;  miscellaneous — numbers,  letters, 
fairies,  money,  own  hands. 

Of  course  all  the  children  do  not  make  all  these  things,  but 
there  is  a  marvelous  opportunity  for  learning  through  imita- 
tion and  through  hearing  others  call  the  names  of  the  objects 
they  have  made. 

The  older  children  show  an  increased  complexity  in  their 
representations.  The  younger  children  make  simple,  single 
objects  generally  in  their  modeling,  while  the  older  children 
make  more  combinations,  although  these  are  very  elemen- 
tary, such  as  birds  in  the  nest,  bear  on  a  hill,  monkey  climbing 
a  stick,  hen  sitting  on  eggs,  horse  and  wagon,  with  man  in  the 
wagon,  baby  in  buggy,  man  in  boat,  children  holding  para- 
sols, boy  in  bath-tub,  etc.  The  older  children,  it  will  be  seen 
from  the  chart,  are  most  interested,  too,  in  illustrating  the 
stories  they  have  been  told.  The  following  stories  were 
illustrated  spontaneously:  "The  Sun  and  the  Wind,"  "Old 
Mother  Hubbard,"  "Squirrel  Song,"  "The  Crow  and  the  Fox," 
"Bre'r  Rabbit,"  "The  Little  Pine  Tree,"  "Clytie,"  song,  "Once 
I  Got  into  a  Boat,"  "Jack  and  the  Candle-Stick,"  and  a  num- 
ber of  stories  of  the  children's  own  make.  Through  their 
representations  the  children  certainly  reveal  their  store  of 
knowledge  and  the  direction  of  their  interests.  When  we 
ponder  on  the  feedom  and  variety  shown  in  the  spontaneous 
activity,  we  pity  the  poor,  little,  starved,  straight-laced 
mortals  who  are  restricted  to  the  paltry  pabulum  of  the 
dictation  exercises.  And  when  we  see  each  happy  child  work- 
ing out  his  own  ideas  and  realizing  his  own  inner  self,  we 
pity  the  class-bound  children  who  are  obliged  each  to  do 
what  his  neighbor  does,  and  all  what  the  dictation  of  one 
pronounces.  The  simple  dictation  exercise  doubtless  has  a 
place,  but  not  the  adoration  given  it  by  many  kindergartens. 
Only  by  bringing  free  activity  to  the  front,  and  giving  it  its 


82  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

rightfully  large  share,  can  the  intuitions  of  Froebel  be  real- 
ized and  the  index-finger  of  modern  scientific  child-study  be 
heeded. 

A  few  closing  words  as  to  the  value  of  the  test.  To  the 
teacher  it  is  a  wonderful  revelation  of  the  mental  status  of 
each  child,  what  his  interests  are,  what  his  range  of  thought 
is,  what  he  is  able  to  do,  how  he  progresses  in  power.  To 
every  kindergartner,  even  if  she  were  not  interested  in  mass 
results,  it  would  be  a  valuable  experiment,  acting  as  a  mirror 
of  truth,  in  which  she  might  see  each  individual  child  re- 
flected, in  which  she  might  best  survey  the  new  children  as 
they  enter  her  class,  in  which  she  might  measure  their 
development  as  it  is  pictured  therein.  But  aside  from  the 
service  to  the  kindergartner,  the  free-choice  hour  is  of  great 
educational  value  to  the  children.  Though  no  longer  keep- 
ing a  strict  record,  the  kindergartners  of  Santa  Barbara  are 
enthusiastic  about  keeping  up  this  hour  for  its  effect  on  the 
children.  During  no  other  hour  of  the  day  is  there  such  close 
absorption  in  their  play,  such  deep  interest,  such  concentra- 
tion, such  unconsciousness  of  the  doings  of  the  other  children. 
This  is  the  hour  when  each  child  is  most  thoroughly  bent  on 
self-expression,  on  spontaneous  doing,  on  self-activity. 

Now,  to  sum  up  the  mass  results  of  this  study,  we  may 
recapitulate  the  following  general  conclusions: 

1 .  The  younger  children  divide  their  interest  among  some 
variety  of  material,  but  the  two  materials  which  especially 
grow  in  interest  and  become  strikingly  predominant  in  the 
second  year  are  clay  and  the  sewing-card,  while  many  of  the 
traditional  kindergarten  materials — sticks,  slats,  rings,  len- 
tils, tablets,  etc. — are  practically  a  dead-weight. 

2.  The  children  at  first  choose  chiefly  from  the  attractive- 
ness of  the  material  itself,  but  later  discriminate  according  to 
what  use  can  be  made  of  the  material. 

3.  The  use  the  child  is  most  largely  interested  in  is  spon- 
taneous representation  of  living  and  natural  forms,  of  the  ob- 
jects that  he  knows,  and  his  interest  in  design,  while  capable 
of  some  development,  is  very  primitive  at  this  age. 

4.  The  child  is  capable  of  most  concentrated  work  when  he 
is  engaged  in  that  which  interests  him  individually,  when  he 


CHOICE  AND  USE  OF  KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS  83 

is  free  to  realize,  under  proper  incentive,  his  own  self-activity 
— the  highest  end  to  be  sought,  according  to  Froebel. 


THE  LOVE  OF  NATURE 

Our  kindergartens  have  not  done  any  systematic  work  in 
nature  lines  the  past  year,  not  because  we  have  not  realized 
that  herein  lies  the  soul  and  origin  of  the  primal  instincts  of 
man,  but  because  conditions  for  the  greater  part  of  the  year 
have  been  unfavorable.  The  following  papers  represent  spo- 
radic efforts  in  two  or  three  of  the  kindergartens.  Since  these 
were  written,  however,  outside  gardens  have  been  started  in 
all  of  the  yards,  through  the  generous  assistance  of  the  ladies 
of  the  Kindergarten  Association,  and  the  personal  activity  of 
Trustee  C.  A.  Edwards,  and  while  nothing  much  can  be  done 
in  the  closing  weeks  of  the  present  year,  nevertheless  garden 
life  and  interests  will  doubtless  in  another  year  become  a  fea- 
ture of  the  daily  occupations  of  the  children.  Few  cities  in 
America  are  so  providentially  favored  by  climate,  wood,  hill 
and  ocean  as  Santa  Barbara,  and  here  it  is  to  be  hoped  a  re- 
turn can  be  made  to  Froebel's  child-garden,  in  a  literal  open- 
air  sense. 

I 

I  began  nature  work,  not  so  much  for  the  idea  of  study,  but 
to  foster  the  children's  love  for  all  living  creatures.  This  I 
have  done  by  means  of  pets,  and  through  this  love  observa- 
tion and  investigation  have  developed  spontaneously.  Be- 
lieving that  children  love  best  the  things  dependent  upon 
them  for  their  care,  the  pets  were  left  for  them  to  feed. 

In  one  corner  of  the  yard,  in  a  roomy  wire  pen,  was  kept  a 
pretty  white  rabbit,  which  was  fed  every  day  by  eager  hands. 
A  very  interesting  sight  it  was,  to  see  a  half-dozen  little  faces 
pressed  up  against  the  wire  netting,  watching  the  bunny 
nibble  away  on  the  crisp  leaves  provided  for  him.  They 
found  out  what  food  he  liked  best,  and  were  very  curious  to 
know  why  he  wouldn't  eat  meat  like  their,  kitty  at  home. 
They  noticed  that  the  rabbit  hopped  instead  of  ran,  and 
very  naturally  they  examined  its  little  legs  and  were  soon 
satisfied.  Then  came  the  questions  as  to  why  it  had  such 
long  ears,  and  "wasn't  it  funny  that  the  bunny  could  move  his 


THE  LOVE  OF  NATURE  85 

ears  back  and  forth?"  Not  content  with  watching  the  rabbit 
move  his  ears,  they  tried  to  move  their  own  ears.  Their 
interest  was  shown  not  only  on  the  playground,  but  during 
their  free-drawing  period  and  clay-modeling.  It  was  no 
uncommon  sight  to  see  a  mamma  rabbit  with  baby  rabbits, 
modeled  from  their  clay,  or  drawn  on  the  board.  • 

After  the  bunny  met  with  an  untimely  end,  we  next  ob- 
tained a  pair  of  birds.  These  were  kept  in  a  large  cage,  four 
by  three  by  six,  so  as  to  give  them  perfect  freedom  in  using 
their  wings,  and  in  hopping  about.  The  birds  depended  also 
on  the  children  for  their  daily  food.  Here,  again,  was  shown 
observation.  Birds' were  cut  from  paper,  birds  were  drawn 
on  the  board  and  on  paper,  were  modeled  from  clay,  and  even 
outlined  with  sticks.  The  bird  games  and  songs  took  a  new 
meaning  to  them,  and  I  am  sure  they  felt,  when  flying  around 
the  room,  that  they  flew  just  as  gracefully  as  did  the  birds. 
They  had  often  been  shown  the  difference  between  the  flying 
of  birds  and  that  of  butterflies,  now  with  the  birds  and  a  live 
butterfly  in  the  room,  they  saw  for  themselves  and  under- 
stood far  better.  Then  the  nest-building!  One  could  never 
conceive  of  where  the  different  bits  of  colored  string  came 
from,  which  were  showered  upon  the  birds  by  wee  hands. 
They  all  felt  that  they  then  owned  an  interest  in  that  nest. 
Their  nest  was  compared  with  other  nests,  and  I  am  sure  we 
were  all  proud  and  happy  when  it  was  pronounced  far  to  ex- 
cel any  of  the  others.  After  the  completion  of  the  nest,  the 
children  fully  expected  the  eggs,  and  they  were  not  disap- 
pointed. First  one  little  blue  egg,  then  another,  and  another, 
and  another,  until  there  was  a  nest  of  five.  With  what  in- 
terest those  eggs  were  watched !  The  mother  bird  no  sooner 
left  her  nest,  then  up  would  rush  a  little  investigator  to  see 
if  the  eggs  were  all  there,  and  what  indignant  stories  were 
told  us,  of  how  some  bad  boy  had  robbed  a  poor  little  bird's 
nest,  and  how  "we  never  would  do  such  a  thing!" 

After  anxious 'waiting  of  two  weeks,  the  children  were  re- 
warded one  morning  by  seeing  one  little  featherless  bird, 
which  was  pronounced  "a  very  curious  specimen,"  and  "not 
one  bit  like  a  little  bird."  For  a  week  we  hardly  got  any 
other  result  from  the  free  drawing  and  modeling  than  birds. 


86  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

There  were  birds'  nests,  birds'  eggs,  little  birds,  big  birds  and 
medium-sized  birds.  Some  were  of  a  very  peculiar  shape, 
but  the  two  legs  and  head  were  always  there,  and,  to  the 
child,  were  an  excellent  resemblance  to  his  birdship. 

Besides  the  birds  in  the  schoolroom,  there  were  three  white 
mice  in  a  very  convenient  two-story  house,  made  of  a  large 
box,  with  a  wire  netting  over  the  front  and  back  of  it,  thus 
allowing  the  children  to  observe  them.  Then,  on  the  shelf 
in  a  large  glass  globe,  dwells  a  gold  fish.  There  are  also  tran- 
sient visitors,  consisting  of  stray  dogs  or  cats,  etc.  One  day 
a  little  girl  came  to  school  with  a  turtle  tied  to  the  end  of  a 
string.  This  was  kept,  as  a  visitor,  for  two  or  three  days  and 
then  turned  loose,  as  the  children  said,  "so  it  could  go  home." 
The  white  mice  are  loved  very  dearly  by  the  children,  and 
often  some  one's  lunch  is  shared  with  them.  The  children 
love  to  hold  and  pet  them,  and  I  notice  that  they  get  more 
real  comfort  from  the  pets  they  can  fondle. 

The  fish  is  one  of  the  best  objects  for  observation.  It  is 
easily  seen  through  the  globe,  while  it  is  at  rest  and  when  in 
motion.  It  is  one  of  the  objects  which  the  children  are  not 
satisfied  with  only  watching,  but  they  want  to  talk  about  it. 
They  want  to  know  about  the  "little  wings,"  why  it  moves  its 
tail  back  and  forth,  how  it  can  live  under  water,  and  they 
exclaim,  "Why!  it  keeps  its  eyes  wide  open  even  when  it  is 
way  down  in  the  water." 

After  the  fish  had  put  in  an  appearance  at  school,  one  little 
boy  came  to  school  one  morning  with  a  little  fish  very  care- 
fully wrapped  up  in  a  piece  of  paper.  This  fish  he  had  ob- 
tained from  a  fish  man,  and  had  brought  to  school  for  us  to 
study. 

By  the  information  the  children  give  us,  in  regard  to  the 
different  animals,  their  interest  evidently  does  not  end  at  12 
o'clock,  and  many  are  the  questions,  no  doubt,  put  to  parents 
or  companions  during  their  walks  or  drives. 

ALICE  L.  BLACKFORD 

II 

Our  pretty,  sunshiny  kindergarten  room,  being  blest  with 
a  long  shelf  placed  under  a  row  of  windows,  is  brightened  by 


THE  LOVE  OF  NATURE  87 

the  presence  of  a  number  of  plants,  mostly  ferns.  But  those 
most  treasured  by  the  children  are  plants  which  they  have 
brought  from  their  home  gardens,  and  a  small  crop  of  beans 
and  barley,  which  have  known  only  the  kindergarten  as  a 
home. 

The  deepest  interest  has  been  shown  in  the  bean  plants 
from  the  first  tiny  leaves  to  the  ripening  of  the  bean  pods, 
each  child  being  anxious  to  be  the  first  to  discover  a  new  pod. 
As  soon  as  the  pods  ripen  one  will  be  laid  aside  for  a  future 
bean  crop,  and  the  others  will  furnish  material  for  a  bean 
party. 

Another  object  lesson  in  nature's  law  of  growth  has  proved 
most  interesting  to  teachers  as  well  as  to  children.  Barley 
was  planted  in  two  pieces  of  cotton  placed  at  the  top  of  two 
glass  jars  filled  with  water.  Then  one  jar  was  placed  in  the 
sunshine  and  one  in  the  dark,  where  for  a  time  no  difference 
was  noticed.  But  after  a  week's  vacation  great  was  the 
children's  surprise  at  the  growth  of  the  barley  leaves  in  each 
jar,  for  both  were  of  the  same  height,  but  one  was  healthy 
green,  while  the  other  was  almost  white.  Immediately  the 
children  said  the  white  leaves  didn't  have  any  sunshine,  and 
one  little  boy  concluded  that  children  needed  plenty  of 
sunshine  to  make  them  healthy,  as  well  as  the  plants. 

But  one  morning,  when  asked  if  they  would  like  to  have 
their  own  gardens  around  the  kindergarten  building,  the 
brightening  of  faces  and  excited  confusion  of  tongues  talking 
of  gardens  at  home,  and  what  they  would  plant,  told  how 
welcome  gardens  would  be.  Consequently  gardens  were 
prepared,  and  the  children  were  soon  busy  planting  seeds  and 
plants.  We  cannot  but  feel  that  as  each  one  plans,  plants, 
sows,  and  cares  for  his  garden,  many  a  lesson  from  nature  is 
unconsciously  learned,  and  many  a  lesson  in  responsibility 
and  care  is  gained. 

ANNETTE  UNDERWOOD 

III 

My  children  have  taken  a  great  many  walks,  and  they  are 
very  fond  of  them.  Once,  when  we  went  to  the  beach,  the 
children  took  off  their  shoes  and  stockings  and  waded  in  the 


88  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

water,  going  in  just  a  little  way  so  that  the  water  touched 
their  feet.  Then  we  all  sat  in  an  old  boat  that  was  on  the 
beach  and  watched  the  water  come  up  to  us.  The  tide  was 
high,  and  there  were  large  breakers,  which  the  children 
noticed. 

Two  or  three  times  we  have  been  to  a  pond  that  is  only  a 
few  blocks  from  the  kindergarten.  Here,  the  children  like  to 
throw  stones  into  the  water,  calling  to  me  to  see  what  a  big 
splash  they  make.  The  children  are  anxious  for  me  to  'see 
each  stone  that  they  throw. 

Another  time  we  went  to  the  hills  on  the  other  side  of  the 
kindergarten.  Here  the  children  ran  races  down  the  hill,  all 
starting  together  to  see  who  would  get  to  the  bottom  first. 
They,  however,  did  not  seem  to  notice  who  got  there  first, 
but  all  started  up  to  do  it  over  again.  On  this  same  walk  we 
came  to  a  bank  by  the  road,  left  after  grading  the  street. 
Here  they  wanted  to  stop  and  jump  from  the  embankment. 

We  have  visited  the  other  kindergartens  a  number  of 
times,  and,  although  they  have  enjoyed  watching  the  other 
children  and  playing  with  them,  still  they  were  frightened, 
and  nearly  always  some  one  has  cried. 

On  the  walks  the  children  notice  almost  every  little  thing. 
They  see  the  flowers,  and  want  to  gather  them  for  me, 
although  they  are  in  some  stranger's  yard.  The  boys 
especially  notice  all  the  old  machinery  that  is  lying  about, 
and  want  to  watch  any  man  that  is  working  on  the  street, 
especially  if  he  is  digging  a  hole  in  the  ground.  The  children 
are  also  very  anxious  for  me  to  walk  past  their  houses,  and 
then  they  run  in  to  call  their  mothers  to  see  me,  and,  if  there 
is  a  baby,  they  have  it  brought  out  for  us  all  to  look  at  it.  On 
their  walks  they  talk  all  the  time,  whereas  in  the  house  the 
same  ones  are  peculiarly  silent.  They  point  out  every  thing 
to  me,  and  if  I  don't  understand  the  Spanish  word,  there  is 
always  some  child  who  helps  us  out,  while  in  the  kindergarten 
I  often  cannot  get  one  to  tell  me  what  another  child  has  said 
in  Spanish.  As  they  are  so  ready  to  talk  when  on  a  walk,  it 
gives  me  an  opportunity  to  teach  them  the  English  word.  I 
think  one  reason  they  enjoy  the  walks  is  because  I  am  in- 
terested in  all  they  see,  whereas,  if  their  mothers  went  with 


THE  LOVE  OF  NATURE  89 

them,  they  would  be  in  a  hurry,  or  on  some  errand,  and  would 
not  take  the  time  to  listen  to  them. 

Lately  the  children  have  asked  to  take  the  dolls  with  them 
on  the  walks.  They  carry  the  dolls  as  carefully  as  can  be  all 
the  way.  Sometimes  the  doll  is  carried  between  two  children, 
each  taking  one  arm. 

FANNIE  S.  REED 

IV 

It  seems  to  me  that  of  the  walks  which  my  class  and  I  have 
taken,  the  most  successful  were  those  for  the  purpose  of 
visiting  absent  children.  In  this  way  the  Spanish  children 
realize  more  fully  that  they  are  wanted,  and  that  they  are 
missed  when  they  do  not  attend. 

A  walk  which  the  children  seemed  to  enjoy,  and  from  which 
they  learned  a  great  deal,  was  one  to  the  beach.  On  that 
occasion  we  saw  guinea  fowls,  which  many  of  the  children 
had  never  before  seen.  After  we  reached  the  beach  we  built 
houses  in  the  sand,  and  gathered  moss  and  pretty  stones. 
The  moss  we  floated  on  cards,  and  some  was  taken  home. 
The  stones  we  used  for  number  lessons,  and  also  in  sand  to 
make  walls,  fences,  to  mark  off  drives,  and  to  finish  off 
mountains.  At  the  beach  we  talked  about  boats,  sang  a  few 
boat  songs,  etc.  The  children  found  a  dead  duck,  which  was 
very  interesting,  and  the  web  feet  were  examined  very  closely. 
Live  ducks  were  seen  on  the  water,  and  the  swimming 
process  observed. 

Another  walk  was  to  a  slough.  On  the  way  the  children 
saw  tules  growing  in  water,  and  thought  them  very  peculiar. 

They  were  taught  to  make  willow  whistles,  as  the  willow 
trees  were  at  their  prime  then.  We  came  to  a  garden  of  arti- 
chokes, and,  as  the  wind  was  blowing,  the  little  balloons  were 
flying  in  every  direction.  I  then  told  the  story  of  dandelion, 
and  pointed  out  nature's  provision  for  distributing  seed.  We 
took  some  of  the  balloons  back  to  school,  and  one  pupil  told 
those  who  had  remained  what  they  had  seen,  and  showed 
how  the  balloons  were  carried  through  the  air  by  the  wind. 

Eucalyptus  cones  were  also  gathered.  A  few  days  later  the 
cones  began  to  dry.  The  seed  fell  out,  affording  a  good  lesson 


QO  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

in  nature's  treasure-boxes.  Some  of  the  children  began  then 
to  bring  all  kinds  of  treasure-boxes  to  show.  When  we 
reached  the  slough  we  found  it  inhabited  by  flocks  of  little 
birds.  Some  of  the  children  who  brought  lunches  threw 
crumbs  to  them.  We  were  all  very  quiet,  and  the  birds  grew 
very  bold,  coming  within  two  or  three  feet  of  us  to  eat.  This 
pleased  the  children  immensely. 

EVALINE  ROSE  SEXTON 


COUNTING  AND  NUMBER 

The  tendency  in  children  to  count  finds  its  origin,  prob- 
ably, in  musical  rhythm,  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  mathe- 
matics. As  such,  counting  is  a  naming  of  rhythms,  and  this 
instinct  appears  very  early  in  education.  The  process  in  the 
early  stages  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  counting  of  objects. 
Children  as  a  rule  readily  learn  to  count  to  twenty  or  more 
long  before  they  can  tell  how  many  fingers  they  have.  Never- 
theless, the  counting  of  objects  possesses  an  early  interest  for 
children,  but  we  must  clearly  distinguish  this  interest  from 
any  conception  of  number  relations.  Abstract  number 
relations  certainly  do  not  appeal  to  the  child  until  a  late 
period — far  later  than  the  period  when  the  subject  is  usually 
forced  into  the  schools,  and  in  introducing  counting  in 
rhythms  and  counting  of  objects  into  the  kindergarten,  we 
must  ask  that  no  confusion  be  made  between  this  class  of 
work  and  that  which  is  entered  upon  in  the  school.  Children 
possess  a  ready  and  responsive  interest  for  the  former,  and  for 
arranging  objects  in  numbered  groups.  This  class  of  work, 
in  which  the  object  is  always  present,  forms  a  natural  and 
useful  preparation  for  the  demands  of  the  school.  If  the 
same  kind  of  number  work  were  continued  in  the  school 
for  two  or  three  years,  before  abstract  relations  were  touched, 
our  pupils  would  doubtless  make  better  progress  in  arith- 
metic. 

PRACTICAL  METHODS 

When  the  kindergartens  opened  in  August  I  had  a  class 
with  twenty-five  pupils  on  the  roll,  and  an  average  daily 
attendance  of  twenty.  All  were  of  foreign  parentage,  mostly 
Spanish  and  Italian,  with  some  French  and  Chinese.  A  small 
number  could  understand  and  speak  a  few  words  of  English, 
but  their  knowledge  was  so  slight  it  was  of  little  help.  I 
began  to  teach  number  with  language.  First  I  procured  a 
large  box,  and  filled  it  with  articles  of  every  description  that 
could  be  used  in  number  work — balls,  scissors,  dolls,  blocks, 
sticks,  bells,  buttons,  etc.  I  would  have  the  children  name 
these  articles,  as  "one  bell,"  "two  balls,"  "three  dolls,"  etc.  At 


92  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

odd  moments  I  would  step  to  the  board  and  draw  some  one  of 
the  above-named  articles,  and  have  the  children  tellhowmany 
there  were.  In  this  way  they  soon  learned  enough  English 
to  have  quite  a  variety  of  words  in  their  number  work. 

THE  FIRST  GIFT  BALLS.  I  would  hold  up  different  groups 
of  balls  of  the  same  color,  asking  individual  children  to  tell 
how  many  they  saw,  and  the  color.  Or  I  would  hold  up  the 
same  group  in  different  colors,  asking  the  same  questions.  In 
this  way  simple  addition  was  introduced,  as,  "two  red  balls 
and  one  yellow  ball  make  three  balls,"  etc.  After  a  lesson  of 
this  kind  for  a  few  minutes  we  would  have  free  play.  I  some- 
times go  to  the  children  separately,  blindfold  their  eyes,  and 
have  them  feel  different  groups  and  tell  me  how  many  balls 
there  are.  If  they  cannot  tell,  I  let  them  open  their  eyes  and 
count.  As  another  variety  I  sometimes  bounce  the  ball,  and 
call  on  some  child  to  count  aloud  the  number  of  times  the  ball 
strikes.  Later  all  count  to  themselves.  I  never  allow  the 
pupils  to  answer  in  concert,  for  by  experience  I  soon  learned 
that  one  or  two  were  doing  all  the  answering,  and  the  others 
were  simply  guessing  or  saying  nothing  at  all. 

SECOND  GIFT  BEADS.  With  these  I  always  give  one  form 
of  two  colors,  as  red  and  yellow,  violet  and  orange;  or,  two 
forms  of  the  same  color,  as  cubes  and  balls,  or  cubes  and 
cylinders ;  otherwise  it  is  confusing  to  the  child.  With  two 
colors,  I  first  have  the  children  string  the  beads  one  and  one ; 
then  two  and  two;  three  and  three,  etc. ;  or,  again,  one  and 
two ;  one  and  three,  etc.  After  a  lesson  of  this  kind  we  paste 
parquetry  on  a  card  to  take  home,  using  the  same  number  of 
discs  as  the  groups  they  strung.  Thus  this  number  is 
emphasized  as  far  as  possible. 

NUMBER  CARDS.  These  are  made  by  taking  pieces  of 
cardboard,  about  six  by  eight  inches,  and  pasting  parquetry 
on  them  in  certain  small  groups.  I  have  made  several  cards 
of  this  kind,  with  groups  of  two,  three,  four,  five,  etc.,  each 
group  in  the  same  color.  The  children  may  help  make  these 
by  taking  the  desired  number  to  arrange  and  paste  on  the 
card.  I  hold  up  a  card  before  them  and  say:  "John,  draw  on 
the  board  the  numbers  of  balls  you  see,"  "Nellie,  get  me  the 
same  number  of  balls  out  of  the  box,"  "Marie,  hold  up  as 


COUNTING  AND  NUMBER  93 

many  fingers,"  "Pedro,  tell  me  how  many,"  "Louis,  what  color 
are  they?"  At  other  times  several  are  sent  to  the  board,  each 
being  shown  a  different  card,  and  are  asked  to  put  the  same 
number  of  circles  upon  the  board.  Similarly  they  make  balls 
in  the  sand-box.  Then,  again,  they  are  given  paper,  marked 
off  in  squares,  and  they  copy  the  cards  in  the  squares  as  fast 
as  they  are  shown  to  them.  Or,  they  are  given  tablets  of  the 
same  size  as  the  parquetry,  and  they  make  new  cards.  This 
work  is  very  exciting,  and  the  children  enjoy  it ;  however,  we 
never  have  it  longer  than  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  at  a  time. 
Sometimes  several  children  are  asked  how  many  circles  or 
squares  they  see  on  the  same  card.  Very  often  the  answer  is 
incorrect.  I  then  show  the  card  again,  and  we  count  aloud, 
and  they  soon  learn  not  to  guess. 

The  third,  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  gifts  are  about  the  best 
material  in  the  kindergarten  with  which  to  teach  number 
individually,  and,  as  a  great  deal  of  my  work  must  be  indi- 
vidual, I  have  perhaps  used  these  more  than  any  other. 
Sometimes  the  four  gifts  are  combined,  arranged  in  groups  as 
dictated,  twos,  threes,  fours,  etc.  Then  I  go  around  with  a 
basket  and  tell  each  child  to  put  in  so  many,  calling  for  a  new 
number  from  each  pupil.  Next,  I  ask  each  to  take  out  a 
stated  number.  As  another  variety  of  method,  I  go  to  each 
child,  and  have  him  group  and  count,  close  his  eyes  and  feel 
groups,  and  tell  how  many.  Or  I  hold  up  the  groups  and 
have  him  answer  at  a  glance,  etc. 

STICKS.  I  think  these  might  be  put  to  excellent  use  in  some 
kindergartens,  but  with  the  Spanish  children  I  have  had  no 
success.  The  sticks  break  too  easily,  and  the  children  love  to 
break  them. 

A  very  .interesting  lesson,  for  a  variety,  is  in  the  use  of 
sounds.  The  children  enjoy  this  for  a  short  time.  I  use  a 
small  hammer  and  a  horseshoe,  or  a  call  bell,  striking  or 
ringing  a  certain  number  of  times,  and  asking  the  children  to 
count  the  strokes.  I  found  it  better  at  first,  however,  to  call 
upon  some  child  to  count  aloud,  because  if  the  children 
counted  to  themselves  they  so  often  disagreed.  After  a  few 
lessons  they  learned  to  do  very  well  counting  to  themselves. 
At  other  times  I  call  on  individual  children  to  strike  as  many 


94  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

times  as  dictated.     They  are  allowed  to  toot  like  trains  a 
given  number  of  times. 

In  our  kindergarten  we  have  a  generous  supply  of  button 
molds,  which  have  proved  invaluable  for  number  work.  We 
also  use  articles  brought  by  the  children,  such  as  shells, 
eucalyptus  cones,  beans,  peas,  seed  pods,  pebbles,  etc.  The 
children  seem  to  take  more  interest  if  their  own  articles  are 
used.  These  articles  are  given  in  generous  quantities  to  each 
child,  and  arranged  in  groups,  as  in  the  case  of  the  blocks. 
Then  I  draw  with  chalk  on  their  tables  what  we  call  a  ladder. 
On  the  first  round  we  place  one  button,  shell,  or  whatever  it 
may  be;  on  the  second,  two;  on  the  third,  three,  etc.  Again, 
the  children  are  given  little  trays  of  wet  sand,  marked  off  in 
the  same  way,  and  they  stick  tooth  picks  in  groups  of  a 
dictated  number. 

I  tried  teaching  number  by  songs,  such  as,  "Five  little 
chickadees  sitting  on  a  door,  One  flew  away,  and  then  there 
were  four,"  or,  "Six  little  children  standing  in  a  row."  But  it 
proved  very  unsuccessful — why,  I  am  not  sure.  Sometimes 
I  feel  as  if  it  were  my  fault,  sometimes  the  children's,  prob- 
ably a  little  of  both.  I  know  some  teachers  have  done  well 
with  the  same  songs.  In  the  first  place,  it  seems  difficult  for 
the  pupil  to  remember  what  comes  next,  how  many  had  gone, 
and  how  many  were  left,  etc. 

When  the  pupils  seem  tired,  or  restless,  I  send  them  to  the 
board,  and  give  each  something  different,  as  far  as  possible, 
to  draw;  for  example,  John  draws  four  boys;  Louis,  three 
girls;  Jennie,  five  tops,  etc.  Very  often,  before  school,  I 
will  go  to  the  blackboard  and  draw  it  full  of  groups  of  articles 
of  every  description,  and  leave  them  there  for  the  children  to 
look  at  whenever  their  eyes  happen  to  turn  that  way.  Then 
I  take  a  paper  large  enough  to  cover  any  group,  point  to 
it,  then  cover,  saying,  "John,  what  did  you  see?"  He  replies, 
"Four  dolls,"  "Five  bells,"  or  whatever  else  it  may  be.  Some- 
times groups  of  balls,  colored  and  uncolored,  or  squares,  are 
made  and  used  in  the  same  way.  I  have  never  tried  to  have 
the  children  recognize  a  group  of  more  than  five  at  a  glance. 
However,  a  few  can  count  twenty  objects  correctly. 

EVALINE  ROSE  SEXTON 


MORAL  EDUCATION 

Morals,  in  the  kindergarten,  have  to  do,  not  with  those 
abstract  spiritualities — goodness,  wickedness,  cruelty,  jus- 
tice, honesty — but  with  concrete  instances.  The  child  cannot 
have  adequate  conception  of  such  products,  except  by 
experience  and  comparison.  The  kindergarten  has  to  do  with 
concrete  physical  actions  in  a  strictly  concrete  sense.  We 
name  for  the  child,  as  occasion  brings  them  concretely  before 
him,  this  act  as  bad,  that  act  as  good ;  this  act  as  cruel,  that 
as  merciful;  this  act  as  generous,  that  as  mean;  this  as 
unjust,  that  as  just.  And  these  are  the  child's  first  lessons 
in  the  theory  of  morality.  At  first,  all  actions  have  practically 
no  moral  quality  for  him.  We  name  them  for  him,  and  affix 
our  approbation  or  disapprobation  so  that  he  may  later 
recognize  them.  This  process  must  be  accomplished  before 
the  child  can  have  an  apperceptive  basis  for  such  abstractions 
as  goodness  in  general,  cruelty  in  general,  justice  in  general, 
generosity  in  general,  etc.  The  period  for  the  pedagogic 
treatment  of  these  abstractions  is  the  adolescent  period.  The 
kindergarten  problem  of  morals  is  more  of  a  physical  one, 
having  to  deal  with  concrete  actions,  cropping  out  largely  in 
children's  social  plays  and  games.  The  fundamental  error  of 
the  orthodox  kindergarten,  as  has  already  been  repeatedly 
illustrated,  is  its  attempt  to  forestall  the  period  of  natural 
ripening  by  forcing  immaturely  the  development  of  con- 
ceptions which  belong  to  the  later  periods,  and  by  neglecting 
to  cultivate  instincts  which  legitimately  belong  to  the 
kindergarten  ages. 

Moral  education  passes  through  stages.  Two  phases 
appear  in  the  kindergarten  period:  First,  that  of  infancy 
and  early  childhood,  when  the  child  sees  no  distinction  be- 
tween "what  is  right"  and  "what  I  want."  The  second  stage 
begins  when,  confused  by  the  fact  that  he  fails  to  establish 
the  identity  of  the  two,  he  falls  back  and  accepts  an  authority 
to  determine  the  right  and  the  wrong.  Right  then  becomes 
"what  mamma  permits,"  and  wrong  is  "what  mamma  for- 


96  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

bids."  The  child  enters  the  kindergarten  at  the  beginning  of 
the  second  phase,  and  the  social  life  into  which  he  is  thrust 
serves  as  an  admirable  school  of  experience.  His  "want"  is 
in  continual  conflict  with  others'  "wants."  It  is  the  old 
struggle  of  the  race,  by  which  our  modern  ethical  principles 
have  been  evolved.  The  child  must  retrace  the  path  at  least 
hastily.  His  intercourse  should  be  as  free  as  possible,  for 
these  experiences,  though  some  may  be  hard  knocks,  con- 
stitute the  elements  out  of  which  moral  abstractions  are 
made.  As  these  moral  experiences  occur,  he  learns  in  a 
practical  way  their  names.  He  learns  that  this  particular 
act  is  a  dishonest  one,  this  a  cowardly  one,  that  a  brave  one, 
etc.  But  by  the  middle  of  the  kindergarten  period  he 
generally  has  learned  that  this  moral  problem  is  a  per- 
plexing one,  and  readily  enough  accepts  the  fact  that  his 
mother,  or  his  kindergartner,  seems  somehow  to  have  figured 
out  the  matter.  He  at  least  recognizes  their  authority,  and 
takes  it  as  a  matter  of  course  that  right  is  what  they  permit, 
and  wrong  that  which  they  forbid.  Studies  abundantly 
establish  the  point  that  children,  until  ten  or  twelve,  unques- 
tionably accept  this  simple  philosophy  of  the  whole  matter. 
From  this  standpoint,  there  is  no  place  for  the  attempts  we  so 
often  observe  to  induce  the  child  to  see  logical  reasons  for 
justice,  or  to  appeal  to  a  supposititious  sense  of  right  and 
wrong.  He  has  as  yet  no  such  abstract  sense.  He  is  in  no 
mood  to  bother  with  these  abstractions;  he  is  now  merely 
taking  in  a  stock  of  samples  of  the  acts  which  the  world  calls 
bad  or  good. 

Further,  at  this  epoch  there  is  no  reason,  either  in  theory 
or  in  practice,  which  forbids  the  establishment  of  a  prompt 
and  unquestioning  obedience.  There  is  no  need  to  give 
reasons  for  obedience,  for  the  child  instinctively  feels  none. 
His  philosophy  is  yet  altogether  too  simple.  The  time,  it  is 
true,  will  come  in  later  life,  when  he  has  taken  in  his  stock  of 
concrete  cases,  that  he  will  fall  to  comparing  them  one  with 
another.  Then  the  parent,  as  the  moral  autocrat,  is  de- 
throned, and  a  sense  of  right,  as  an  abstraction  from  his 
many  concrete  cases,  enters  upon  him.  But  with  this  period 
the  kindergartner  has  nothing  to  do.  While  it  is  not  necessary 


MORAL  EDUCATION  97 

to  thrust  the  child  into  a  bad  environment — discretionary 
judgment  is  always  essential — still,  it  is  necessary  for  the 
child  to  meet  and  grapple  with  wrongs  as  well  as  rights,  not 
as  a  philosopher,  but  as  a  quicksilver  globule  gathering  up 
the  golden  grains  of  moral  experience.  The  parent,  or  the 
kindergartner,  must  be  ever  by  him,  to  tell  him  what  is 
wrong  and  what  is  right,  briefly  and  to  the  point,  and  to  see 
that  he  always  does  the  right  thing,  and  does  it  promptly,  to 
the  end  that  the  right  thing  may  be  imbedded  as  a  habit  in 
his  spinal  cord.  The  philosophy,  or  the  grammar,  of  morals 
belongs  to  a  later  stage  of  development,  as  all  kinds  of 
grammar  properly  do,  and  the  grammar  of  morals  is  as  much 
out  of  place  in  the  kindergarten  as  the  grammar  of  language. 
The  child  must  learn  to  act  correctly,  and  to  speak  correctly, 
before  he  takes  up  the  whys  and  wherefores. 

All  social  plays  introduce  moral  education,  but  it  would 
seem  that  some  plays  are  more  suitable  for  this  purpose  than 
others.  The  field  to  which  natural  play  here  opens  the  door 
for  the  intelligent  kindergartner  is  an  immense  one,  and  as 
yet  has  scarcely  been  entered.  It  seems  strange  that  doll 
play,  for  example,  has  never  been  utilized  by  the  kinder- 
garten as  moral  material.  The  study  on  doll  play,  by  Presi- 
dent G.  Stanley  Hall  and  Dr.  Ellis,  shows  that  it  is  practically 
a  universal  instinct,  whose  nascency  begins  in  the  kinder- 
garten period,  and  that  in  playing  with  dolls  children 
execute  more  altruistic  acts  than  in  any  other  play.  The 
altruism  may  be  merely  mimic  and  without  much  mought  or 
feeling,  but  this  is  the  natural  starting  point.  Children  set  a 
moral  example  to  their  dolls,  learn  information  that  they  may 
impart  it  to  their  dolls,  act  the  autocrat  in  telling  the  dolls 
what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong,  mete  out  punishment, 
sympathize,  forgive,  suffer  privation  for  the  doll's  sake,  and 
do  other  acts  of  equal  moral  import.  Why  should  not  the 
curriculum  contain  a  lesson  on  morals  through  doll  play? 


98  A  STUDY  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  PROBLEM 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1.  BARNES,  EARL.    "Discipline."    Studies  in  Education,  Nos.  1-8,  July, 

i896-April,  1897. 

2.  BARNES,   EARL.     "Punishment  as  Seen  by  Children."    Pedagogical 

Seminary  Vol.  3,  No.  2.     Pacific  Education  Journal.     N.  E.  A. 
Proceedings,  1893. 

3.  BARNES,  EARL.  "Corporal  Punishment  as  a  Means  of  Social  Control." 

Education,  March,  1898. 

4.  HALL,  G.  STANLEY.    "The  Moral  and  Religious  Training  of  Children 

and  Adolescents."    Pedagogical  Seminary,  Vol.  1 :   196-210. 

5.  HALL,  G.  STANLEY.   "Moral  Education  and  Will-Training."  Pedagogi- 

cal Seminary,  Vol.  II:  72. 

6.  SCHALLENBERGER,  MARGARET.    "Children's  Rights  as  seen  by  Them- 

selves."   Pedagogical  Seminary,  Vol.  Ill:   87. 

7.  DARRAH,  ESTELLE  M.    "Children's  Attitude  Toward  Law."    Studies 

in  Education,  Nos.  6  and  7,  December,  1896  and  January,  1897. 

8.  FREAR,  CAROLINE.    "Class  Punishment."    Studies  in  Education,  No. 

9,  March,  1897. 

9.  SNEDDEN,  DAVID  S.     "Children's  Attitude  Toward  Punishment  for 

Weak  Time-Sense."    Studies  in  Education,  Vol.  9,  March,  1897. 

10.  COMPAYRE.    L'Evolution  intellectuelle  et  morale  de  VEnfant.    Paris, 

1896. 

11.  LOMBROSO,  CESARE.    L'Homme  criminel.    Paris,  1895. 

12.  MORRISON,  W.  L>.    Juvenile  Offenders.    D.  Appleton  and  Co.,  1897. 

13.  ELLIS,  A.    C.  and  HALL,  G.  S.     "A  Study  of  Dolls."    Pedagogical 

Seminary,  December,  1896. 

FREDERIC  BURK 


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